The country’s prestigious National Awards were first presented in the year 1954. From 1973 the award ceremonies are administrated by the Indian government’s Directorate of Film Festivals. The awards were introduced by the government to honor and encourage the films that are directed across India and featuring Indian art and culture. A national panel is appointed every year to select the winning entry by the government and the awards are handed out by the President of India to the winners for the year. The ‘Best Film on Environment Conservation’ award is one of the sub-categories of Non-Feature Film Awards which was introduced in 1999. The inaugural award was bagged by Santhosh Sivan for the Tamil film ‘Malli’. The movie was released in 1998. It centers on the story of a poor girl, who helps her family by collecting firewood and plays with her deaf and mute best friend in a nearby forest. The movie received wide critical compliments after its release.

National Award Winners For Best Film On Environment Conservation/Preservation Are:

Year
Film
Director
Language
2009
Jianta Bhoota
Prashanta Nanda
Oriya
2005
-
-
-
2004
-
-
-
2003
Urumattram
B. Sivakumar
Tamil
2002
-
-
-
2001
The Nest
-
English
2000
-
-
-
1999
Willing to Sacrifice
B.V. Rao
English