KANPUR, India: The Madhavrao Scindia Leadership Awards for 2010 were announced by the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee. Established last year, the awards seek to recognize the leaders, from across the spectra of commerce, science, government, arts and culture, whose relentless pursuit of excellence fuels India's journey to the forefront of global leadership.

Sri Prakash Jaiswal, Madhavrao Scindia Leadership Awards for 2010, said, "The Madhavrao Scindia Leadership Awards look at honoring people from different walks of life who have made a significant contribution towards India's progress. Late Shri Madhavrao Scindia should be an inspiration for the future generations to come. We are looking at taking this award on a global platform in the coming years."

Today, the following achievers were honoured at a glittering ceremony, held in Kanpur:

    
    Actor of the Year/Entrepreneur Aamir Khan

    Actress of the Year Anushka Sharma

    Lifetime Achievement Award Dev Anand

    Cricketer of the Century Kapil Dev

    Sportsman of the Year Gagan Narang, Shooter

    Banker of the Year Rana Kapoor, Chairman YES Bank

    Investment Banker of the Year S Vishvanathan, MD & CEO SBI Capital
    Markets Ltd.

    Business Leader of the Year Hemant Shah, Akruti Group

    Business Woman of the Year Renu Kochhar, Viraj Group

    Emerging Media Baron of the Year Ajit Thakur, CEO, Sony Entertainment

    Best TV Actor Kritika Sengar (Lead Role in Jhansi Ki Rani)

    Young Achiever in Business: Diya Kapoor

    Business School of the Year Dr. Rajendra Saxena, NMIMS Mumbai

    Culture Award of the Year Late Shri Bismillah Khan (Accepted by Grandson
    Nasir Abbas)

    Contribution to Social Service Sunil Khanna

    Contribution to Science Sandeep Verma

ABOUT THE AWARDS

Madhavrao Scindhia Leadership Awards have been instituted to award individuals who have excelled in their working field and contribution to the society. These awards not only honour the men and women who stand at the forefront of the world, but also the talented people they lead. The awards promise to acknowledge the best, the brightest and the most dynamic Indians who have emerged leaders in their respective field and are leading India in her journey toward being a global superpower.

PROFILES OF THE AWARDEES

Aamir Khan (Actor of the Year)

He has been awarded the Best Actor and also the Best Entrepreneur for making best marketing strategies for his movies on his own and making sure that he entertains the end audience and they get value for money for each ticket purchased for his films

Starting his career as a child actor in his uncle Nasir Hussain's film Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973), Khan began his professional career eleven years later with Holi (1984) and had his first commercial success with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988). He received his first National Film Award (Special Jury Award) for his role in the film Raakh (1989). After seven previous nominations during the 1980s and 1990s, Khan received his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor for his performance in the major grosser Raja Hindustani (1996)[4][5] and later earned his second Best Actor award for his performance in the Academy Award-nominated Lagaan, which also marked the debut of his own production company.

Following a four-year break from acting, Khan made his comeback playing the title role in the historical Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005), and later won a Critics Award for Best Performance for his role in Rang De Basanti (2006). The following year, he made his directorial debut with Taare Zameen Par, for which he received a Filmfare Award for Best Director. This was followed by Ghajini (2008), which became the highest grossing film of that year, and 3 Idiots (2009), which became the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all-time, unadjusted for inflation.[6] The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 2003 and the Padma Bhushan in 2010 for his contributions to Indian cinema.

Anushka Sharma (Female Actor of the Year)

She is a Bollywood actor and former model who has impressed Indian audiences worldwide with her performances in popular films like Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Badmaash Company and most recently in Band Baaja Baaraat. She began her modeling career at the Lakme Fashion Week as a model for Wendell Rodricks's Les Vamps Show and was picked to be Rodricks's finale model at the Spring Summer '07 Collection. Since then she has done campaigns for Silk & Shine, Whisper, Nathella Jewelry and Fiat Palio.

Dev Anand (Recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award)

He is an Indian Bollywood actor, director and film producer, the second of three brothers who were active in Bollywood. His elder brother Chetan Anand was a film director, as was his younger brother, Vijay Anand. Their sister, Sheel Kanta Kapur, is the mother of renowned Hindi and English film director Shekhar Kapur. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 2001 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2002 for his contributions towards Indian cinema.

Kapil Dev (Cricketer of the Century)

He captained the Indian cricket team which won the 1983 Cricket World Cup. Named by Wisden as the Indian Cricketer of the Century in 2002, Kapil Dev was also India's national cricket coach for 10 months between October 1999 and August 2000.

Kapil was a right-arm pace bowler noted for his graceful action and potent outswinger, and was India's main strike bowler for most of his career. He also developed a fine inswinging yorker during the 1980s, which he used very effectively against tail-enders. As a batsman, he was a natural striker of the ball who could hook and drive effectively. A naturally aggressive player, he often helped India in difficult situations by taking the attack to the opposition. Nicknamed The Haryana Hurricane, he represented the Haryana cricket team in domestic cricket.[3] He retired in 1994, holding the world record for the most number of wickets taken in test cricket, a record subsequently broken by Courtney Walsh in 2000. At the time, he was also India's highest wicket taker in both major forms of cricket, Tests and ODIs). He is the only player in the history of cricket to have taken more than 400 wickets and scored more than 5,000 runs in test cricket, making him one of the greatest all-rounders to have played the game. On 8 March 2010, Kapil Dev was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame

Gagan Narang (Sportsperson of the Year)

He has established himself as one of India's most exciting sporting talents, with his haul of four gold medals at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games. He is also a gold medalist in the Afro Asian games, 2003 in Hyderabad on October 26, 2003 in the Men's 10m air rifle competition. He had won an air rifle gold medal at the World Cup 2006 and followed that event in April 2008. In a pre-Olympic event in Hannover, Germany, he shot an air rifle score higher than the world record, 704.3 as opposed to 703.1 set by Thomas Farnik of Austria in the World Cup 2006.

Rana Kapoor (Banker of the Year)

He is the Founder/Managing Director & CEO of YES BANK. As a professional entrepreneur, since 2003, he is progressively establishing a high quality, state-of-the-art private Indian bank with a vision of "Building the Best Quality Bank of the world in India" by 2015. Mr. Kapoor is a member of the Government of India's Board of Trade, an apex body consisting of top leadership from the industry, nominated by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. Mr. Kapoor is also a member of the Managing Committee of the Indian Banks' Association (IBA), a premier body represented by top Bankers across the industry. He was also the Chairman of CII's Banking Committee for the year 2005-06.

S. Vishvanathan (Investment Banker of the Year)

Mr. S. Vishvanathan has assumed charge as Managing Director & CEO of SBI Capital Markets Ltd. from the 22nd June 2009. Prior to this he was the Chief General Manager of State Bank of India's North Eastern operations. Mr. Vishvanathan joined SBI as a Probationary Officer in 1976 and has served the bank in several important capacities which includes an assignment in our New York Branch and stints as Regional Manager and Deputy General Manager in Delhi Circle. He has extensive experience in the domain of Treasury and Global Markets both in the Domestic as well as International Markets and has been associated with State Bank's foray into structured products and derivatives in his capacity as General Manager (Global markets).

Hemant Shah (Business Leader of the Year)

He is the Chairman of Ackruti City Limited. He is a Civil Engineer from Mumbai University and has over 31 years of experience in executing various large projects including military contracts, government projects, private contracts and real estate developments. Mr. Shah has a significant amount of experience in the execution and the management of a wide variety of construction projects and has successfully elevated ACL to the status of a leading development company in the country within a few years. Mr. Shah presently controls construction planning, execution, marketing, sales and developing new business functions and has completed a management study course run by Harvard University. He is also the Chairman of Jain International Trade Organization (JITO), a worldwide organization of Jain businessmen, industrialists, knowledge workers and professionals with the objective of achieving socio-economic empowerment, value based education, community welfare, practice of compassion, spread of global friendship and spiritual upliftment of fellow beings.

Renu Kochhar (Businesswoman of the Year)

She is the Managing Director of Viraj Profiles Ltd., which is part of Mumbai-based Viraj Group. Viraj is a global player in the stainless steel industry. Under her astute leadership, the group has acquired wide acclaim for its high quality stainless steel products, timely delivery and a broad customer base with exports to around 80 countries across the world. Her achievements are especially noteworthy as they have been accomplished in a largely male-dominated business.

Ajit Thakur (Media Baron of the Year)

He has been the business head of Sony Entertainment Television since July 2009. Known in industry circles as someone with a creative mind in addition to business acumen, this IIM Lucknow graduate has previously had successful stints with Balaji Motion Pictures, UTV Television, Hindustan Unilever and Coca Cola.

DIYA KAPOOR- Young Achiever in Business

Born in 1982, Diya was a star performer as a child academically and otherwise.

She always keen in sports which made her a very steady person who would strive to achieve that extra bit in every endeavor or of hers. At a very young age Diya took major interest in photography which in the later years shaped her eye for detail.

At a young age her family shaped her into an independent and spearheaded leader, the results of which have proved her to be an accomplished professional with a rewarding career.

The past few years Diya has developed into a strong organizer, motivator, assertive and decisive leader .She possess keen business acumen in understanding business requirements, customer-value maximization and revenue streams. Diya has also successfully demonstrated the ability to manage human, financial and material resources towards the achievement of the objectives of the organization. She is currently the Director of the Golden Peacock Group.

For further information, please contact:

Yugbodh Singh Garewal, CEO, Think PR India: +91-9987-604-567; yugbodh@thinkprindia.com

Ms. Samantha Furtado, Senior Account Manager, Think PR India: +91-9819-0660-41; samantha@thinkprindia.com