India’s First ‘ National Media Centre ‘ inaugrated in New Delhi . August 2013 .

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi jointly inaugrated the Information & Broadcasting Ministry’s new ‘ National Media Centre ‘ on Saturday – August 24th, 2013.

Set up at a cost of Rs. 60 crore, the National Media Centre is located on Raisina Road in New Delhi.

India’s First ‘Miss Diva’ 2013 . September 2013

Manasi Moghe was adjudged the Winner of the 1st edition of Miss.Indian Diva 2013, at a star studded gala evening held at the Westin Mumbai Garden City, Mumbai on Thursday – September 05th, 2013.

The Winner, Manasi Moghe will now represent India at the Miss Universe pageant to be held in Moscow, later on in November 2013. The 21-year old was born in Indore (Madhya Pradesh) and is pursuing a degree in Engineering – in Electronics & Telecommunications from Nagpur.

The contestants were judged by a Panel comprising Zeenat Aman, Raveena Tandon, Atul Kasbekar, Malaika Arora Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Kunal Kapoor and Miss. Universe Canada 2012 Sahar Biniaz.

First Indian Woman Recipient of the ‘ Jnanapith Award ‘. 1976

Ashapurna Devi was the first woman to win the Jnanapith Award in 1976 for her work ‘Pratham Pratisruti’ in Bengali. This prominent Bengali novelist and poet was also known as Ashapurna Debi or also as Asha Purna Devi.

She was also awarded the ‘Padma Shri’ by the Government of India in the same year 1976.

Ashapurna Devi was born on January 08th, 1909 in Potoldanga, Calcutta (now Kolkata). She passed away aged 86 in 1995.

The Jnanapith Award is a literary award in India. Alongwith the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship it is one of the 2 most prestigious literary honours in the country. The Jnanapith award was instituted in 1961.

The name of the award is taken from the Sanskrit words ‘jnana’ and ‘pitha’ (knowledge-seat). It carries a cheque for Rupees 11 lakhs, a citation plaque and a bronze replica of Saraswati, the Indian Goddess of knowledge, music and the arts.

First Textile Trade Agreement between India and Sri Lanka. September 2013 .

A historic MOU, the first ever textile agreement between the two nations, India and Sri Lanka was signed on September 11th, 2013 at an event held in the Galadari Hotel, Colombo.

Its objective was the expansion of the business and co-operation in the development of SME in Handloom, Power-loom and Textile sectors. The period of the MOU will remain in force for 5 years from the date of signing MOU and it can be renewed thereafter.

The event was attended by Anura Siriwardena (Secretary, Ministry of Industry & Commerce, Sri Lanka), Ms.Zohra Chaterji (Secretary, Textile Ministry of India), Y.K. Sinha (High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka), Basil Rajapaksa (Minister of Economic Development), M.Fowzie (Senior Minister), PS Raghavan (Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, India), Ashraf Omar (CEO of Brandix Lanka), Visvanath Agarwal (Chairman – Powerloom Development & Export Promotion Council of India, PDEXCIL), Anura Siriwardena (Secretary, Ministry of Industry & Commerce), and several members of Business and Industry.

India’s First Recipient of the ‘ Jnanapith Award ‘. 1965 .

G. Shankara Kurup was the first winner of the Jnanapith Award in 1965. He won the prize for his collection of poems in Malayalam ‘Odakkuzhal’ (The Bamboo flute, 1950).

Born June 03rd, 1901 in Nayathode, Kingdom of Cochin (now in Ernakulam district, Kerala). Shankara Kurup is better known as Mahakavi G (The great poet).

The Jnanapith Award is a literary award in India. Alongwith the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship it is one of the 2 most prestigious literary honours in the country. The Jnanapith award was instituted in 1961.

The name of the award is taken from the Sanskrit words ‘jnana’ and ‘pitha’ (knowledge-seat). It carries a cheque for Rupees 11 lakhs, a citation plaque and a bronze replica of Saraswati, the Indian Goddess of knowledge, music and the arts.

First edition of ‘ Premia India Runaway Week ‘ (PIRW) 2013 . September 2013 .

The first edition of  ‘Premia Runaway Week ‘ (PIRW) was launched at a grand opening at the Mapple Exotica, Chattarpuri, New Delhi.

The Premia Runaway Week is a gateway and a new platform that showcased young designers of the future, to-day. The event which showcased 24 designers was hosted by Tarun Shienh and the Main Title Sponsors are Premia Group, represented by Tarun Shienh, CMD .

An initiative of ‘The Indian Federation for Fashion Development’ (IFFD) to discover new talent to present themselves to the Industry at large. Present were both the Founders Avinash Pathanian and Kiran Kheva.