HYDERABAD: Environmentalist and writer Sunita Narain will be conferred with the Raja-Lakshmi Award for year 2009. She will be presented with a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, a citation and a plaque. She will also receive the Dr KV Rao and Dr Jyothi Rao Award of $ 2,000 from the US-based Telugu Fine Arts Society.
Both the awards will be presented to her at a function to be held in Chennai on November 19.
Sunita Narain will receive the award for her contribution to the society in the fields of science, environment and literature.
She is currently working as director of the Centre for Science and Environment, director of the Society for Environmental Communications and also as publisher of the wellknown environmental magazine, `Down to Earth’.
Th e Raja-Lakshmi Award is an annual award institued by Sri Raja-Lakshmi Foundation in 1979 to promote arts, literature, science, humanities and other intellectual pursuits and to honour distinguished personalities in these fields. The earlier recipients of this award include poets Sri Sri and C Narayana Reddy, musicians M Balamuralikrishna and `Mandolin’ U Srinivas, scientist Dr Y Nayudamma, bureaucrat Dr Abid Hussain, and singers SP Balasubrahmanyam and Lata Mangeshkar.
Similarly, Brahmasri Vangala Ramamurthy Ghanapaathi also will be conferred with the Lakshm i - R a j a Va i d i k a Puraskaram for year 2009.
The awardee will receive a citation, a plaque and a cash prize of Rs 25,000.
The award was instituted in 1994 to coincide with the 60th birthday of Mahalakshmi Raja, foundertrustee.