Indian Honours and Awards

Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson received the Turing Award in 1983 for their development of generic operating systems theory and specifically for creating Unix. The Turing Award is computing's highest honor, often called the 'Nobel Prize of Computer Science.' The Nobel Prize does not have a computing category, while the other options are unrelated to computing achievements.

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam became the first Asian to receive the Hoover Medal in 2009, America's highest engineering prize, for his contributions to aerospace engineering and nation-building. The Hoover Medal recognizes engineers who have dedicated themselves to the betterment of humanity and was previously awarded almost exclusively to Americans. The other listed figures, while notable, did not receive this specific engineering honor.

Saina Nehwal received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2016, India's highest sporting honor, for her achievements in badminton including Olympic bronze and world number one ranking. She was the first Indian female badminton player to achieve this.

Viswanathan Anand was the first recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1991-92, India's highest sporting honor. The chess grandmaster received this recognition for his World Chess Championship victory. Sachin Tendulkar (1997) and others came much later.

The Dronacharya Award is India's highest sporting honor for coaches, instituted in 1985. It's named after Guru Dronacharya from the Mahabharata, the legendary archery teacher who taught the Pandava princes. The award recognizes excellence in coaching across all sports.

The Ezhuthachan Award (Ezhuthachan Puraskaram) is Kerala's highest literary honor, named after Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan, the father of Malayalam literature. In 2010, it was awarded to eminent Malayalam writer M. Leelavathi for her contributions to Malayalam literature. Sugathakumari received it in 2018, while O.N.V. Kurup was honored in 2005.

The Orange Prize for Fiction (now Women's Prize for Fiction) 2010 was awarded to Barbara Kingsolver for her novel 'The Lacuna'. The prize recognizes female authors of any nationality for the best full-length novel written in English. Arundhati Roy won the Booker Prize in 1997, while Hilary Mantel won the Booker Prize in 2009 for 'Wolf Hall'.

C. Rajagopalachari was the first recipient of the Bharat Ratna in 1954, along with Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and C.V. Raman. M.G. Ramachandran received it later in 1988, J.C. Bose was never awarded the Bharat Ratna (though he deserved it), and M.K. Gandhi was deceased before the award was established.

K V Mahadevan composed the music for the Telugu film 'Shankarabharanam' (1980), which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu and Best Music Direction. The film is considered a classic in Indian cinema.

Dilip Tirkey, from the Oraon tribe in Odisha, became the first tribal to receive the Padma Shri award in 2004 for his contributions to field hockey. He had a distinguished career as a defender, captaining India and earning over 300 international caps. This recognition honored both his sporting excellence and tribal heritage representation.

Dr. Joon Lew of Korea received the International Gandhi Award for his dedicated work in leprosy eradication. The award recognizes individuals or organizations working to eliminate leprosy (Hansen's disease) through treatment, rehabilitation, and awareness campaigns.

Amartya Sen won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1998 and has deep connections to Santiniketan. Mother Teresa (Calcutta), Ronald Ross (Kolkata), and C.V. Raman (Kolkata) don't have the Santiniketan connection.

Barbara Kingsolver won the 2010 Orange Prize for Fiction for her novel 'The Lacuna'. The Orange Prize (now Women's Prize for Fiction) honors female authors. Arundhati Roy won the Booker Prize in 1997. Hilary Mantel (option misspells as 'Hillari') won the prize in 2009 for 'Wolf Hall'. Ashwin Sanghi is an Indian thriller writer.