It is in this spirit the National Award was instituted in 1986. Dr. Shashi Tharoor and Mr. Naseeruddin Shah were presented with a ceremonial shawl; a silver “Toran” plaque of honour, a felicitation certificate and a cash award of Rs 25,001.
Dr Shashi Tharoor is Chairman of Dubai-based Afras Ventures. He is a prize-winning author of ten books fiction and non-fiction; and a widely-published critic, commentator and columnist (including The Hindu, The Times of India and Newsweek). In 2007 he concluded a career spanning nearly 29 years with the United Nations, including working for refugees in South-East Asia at the peak of the “boat people” crisis, handling peace-keeping operations in the former Yugoslavia, and culminating as Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. In 2006, he was India's candidate to succeed Mr. Kofi Annan as UN Secretary-General, and emerged a strong second out of seven contenders. His books include the classic The Great Indian Novel (1989), India: From Midnight to the Millennium (1997), Nehru: The Invention of India (2003), and most recently, The Elephant, the Tiger, and the Cell phone: Reflections on 21st Century India (Fall 2007).

Mr. Naseeruddin Shah has been running and directing performances at the theatre “Motely” for the past 30 years. He has directed plays over last ten years including “An Evening at Chekov”, 'The Lesson”, “Zoo Story”, “Androcles and The Lion”, “The Misunderstanding”, “End Game”. He has performed in over 75 productions on the stage Oedipus in “Oedipus Rex” {Sophocles}Gandhi in Mahatma vs Gandhi, Bernard Shaw in “Dear Liar” “The Prophet”, Valmont in “Dangerous Liaisons” Don Juan in “Don Juan in hell”. He has acted in over 200 feature films in many Indian languages as well as some international productions including 'Monsoon Wedding'. Mr. Shah has been honoured for his achievements on numerous occasions including Padma Shree in 1987 and Padma Bhushan in 2003 by The Government of India. At the 7th International Film Festival of Mumbai he was awarded for his contribution to Indian cinema in 2003. He received the International award for best actor at Venice Film Festival in 1985 and in 2008 Zenith Asia Award at the Asian Film Festival, Pune.

Maharana Udai Singh Award
The tumultuous life of Maharana Udai Singhji (1537-1572 A.D.) stands in marked contrast to the tranquility and beauty of the City that today bears his name. After narrowly escaping an assassination attempt, Udai Singhji lived for years in exile in Kumbhalgarh. In 1553 he founded the City of Udaipur and began to build a new palace on the shores of Lake Pichola. Thus, Udaipur became the new capital of Mewar.
At the beginning of the 21st century, we are standing at the cutting edge of urbanisation, growth and development. In the 20th century, much of this development has been a product of unplanned haphazard growth which has lead to environmental degradation. The issues of development and maintenance of environmental balance are inextricable linked. Environmental growth has been a central tradition to the House of Mewar.

Mr. Karambir Singh Kang receiving Panna Dhai Award
from Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur




Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur presenting the Special Award for the Best Police Station of Rajasthan to Jhothwara,
Jaipur City (South)

The Maharana Udai Singh Award is a National Award. This award has been instituted to honour work of permanent value in protecting and enriching the environment, hand-in-hand with future development. It is in this spirit that the National Award was instituted in 1996. Twelve notable individuals have been awarded to date.
Dr. Ranganath R. Navalgund and Mr. Randhir Bittu Sahgal were presented with a ceremonial shawl; a silver “Toran” plaque of honour, a felicitation certificate and a cash award of Rs 25,001.
Dr. Ranganath R. Navalgund, is a distinguished scientist, who is currently Director of the Space Applications Centre (SAC), one of the major Centres of Indian Space Research Organisation, Ahmedabad. He also served as Director of the National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad from May 2001 to November 2005. During his illustrious career spanning over three decades Dr. Navalgund has contributed significantly towards the growth and development of space applications programmes, in particular remote sensing application programmes that are used for environmental monitoring.