On Wednesday, March 22, the President of India Droupadi Murmu conferred Padma Bhushan 106 Padma Awards, including three duo cases. In a duo case, the award is counted as one.
Of the total awardees, 10 helmed from Maharashtra, including Mumbai, they include:
A brief citation about the life and work of awardees is given below:
1) Kumar Mangalam Birla
Kumar Mangalam Birla is the Chairman of the venerable Indian multinational, Aditya Birla Group. The Group’s legacy dates to over a century and it was the first Indian business group to venture abroad. Today, the Group is present in 36 countries with turnover around $60 Billion.
Born on 14th June, 1967, Shri Birla chairs the Boards of all major Group companies, in India and globally. In the 27+ years that he has been at the helm of the Group, he has accelerated growth, and raised the Group’s turnover by 30 times. He has been the architect of over 40 acquisitions, in India and globally, among the highest by any Indian multinational.
Under the stewardship of Birla, the Aditya Birla Group enjoys a position of leadership in all the major sectors in which it operates, from cement to chemicals, metals to textiles, and apparels to financial services. Over the years, he has built a highly successful meritocratic organisation, anchored by an extraordinary force of 140,000 employees, belonging to over 100 nationalities.
Outside the Group, Birla has held several key positions on various regulatory and professional Boards. He was a Director on the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India. He was also the first industry nominee on the Board of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). As the Chairman of SEBI Committee on Corporate Governance, he framed the first-ever Governance Code for Corporate India. He was Chairman of the Advisory Committee constituted by the Ministry of Company Affairs, and also served on the Prime Minister of India’s Advisory Council on Trade & Industry. He is also the first Indian Industrialist to be conferred an Honorary degree by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI).
Birla has been conferred several prestigious awards. He was the first Indian Industrialist to receive the TiE Global Entrepreneurship Award for Business Transformation in 2021. He received ABLF Global Asian Award in 2019. He has also received the Business Leader of the Year Award twice at the Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence. In addition, he has received several awards and honours from leading institutions like EY, Forbes, CNBC, CNN-Newsl8 etc.
2) Suman Kalyanpur
Suman Kalyanpur is a renowned Indian playback singer most well known for her success as one of the top three female playback singers of the golden era in Indian music. Her mellifluous voice took the industry by storm for almost four decades, delivering innumerable hit songs in Hindi, Marathi and 11 other languages. Even today at the age of 86, her voice is fresh, young and treat to listen to.
Born on 28th January, 1937, Kalyanpur began her musical career in the year 1952, with a broadcast in the Bombay station of the All India Radio. She received invaluable guidance about the basics of music from musicologist and music director Shri Keshavrao Bhole of Prabhat fame. She was also trained in classical, semi-classical and light music by gurus like Ustaad Abdul Rehman Khan, Tawde Bua, Navrang Nagpurkar and Yashwant Deo. She has sung with all the leading singers of the time like Talat Mahmood, Manna Dey, Mohd. Rafi, Mukesh, Kishore Kumar, Parveen Sultana, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle to name a few and under the baton of all the popular music directors in bollywood of that period (1952-1986) like S D Burman, Roshan, Shankar-Jaikishan, Naushad, Khayyam, Kalyanji-Anandji, Laxmikant Pyarelal, Usha Khanna, Rajesh Roshan, Robin Banerjee, Dattaram and many more. She, according to many hard core critics and sensitive connoisseurs is unique in her rendition of film songs, bhajans, light classical music and non-film songs too. Urdu ghazals of Smt. Kalyanpurhave individuality peculiar to her with a style that is unique. One of her biggest hits, ‘Aaajkaltere mere pyaarkecharche...’ has become a cult song, famous till date with many renditions and remixes made of the same.
Kalyanpur has many ‘Firsts' to her credit. She was the First Indian Female Playback Singer to sing live abroad and introduce an Indian cultural show of song and dance in USA, UK (Wembley Stadium), South America, West Indies and Canada. She was the first to appear on the BBC Channel, London. She has sung in 25 cultural charity programs for the Government of Maharashtra in aid of their noble cause of small saving scheme. She also showed her solidarity by engaging in free performances in five shows in aid of War Widows organized by the Government of India.
Kalyanpur has the rare distinction of having won many highly coveted awards since a young age. In the Best Female Playback Singer category: The Phalke Award of Rasrang Nashik, The MiyanTansen Award, The Gujarat State Film Award 1970-73 consecutively, The Punjab Film and Drama Award, The Bhojpuri Film Award, A Gold Medal for Cultural Services to Maharashtra State, The Maharashtra State Cultural Award, The Lata Mangeshkar Award in Maharashtra as well as Madhya Pradesh and many more.
3) Bhiku Ramji Idate
Bhiku Ramji Idate alias Dada Idate, former chairperson of Union Development and Welfare Board for Denotified Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities (DWBDNC) is an eminent social activist and is known for his remarkable contributions in the development of downtrodden people.
Born on 2nd June, 1949 in a small village from Ratnagiri District of Maharashtra, Shri Idate started his career as a teacher. However, his concern for the poor nomadictribes, motivated him to leave the job. Since then for last 53 years, he has been working for the socio- economically oppressed people. He established, ‘Savitribai Phule Shikshan Prasarak (SPSP) Mandal in 1992. This paved path for the higher education to the poor students from a backward tahsil Mandangad. The SPSP Mandal has established colleges, Jr. Colleges, High schools, OBC Hostel and Ashram Schools in Mandangad and Dapoli tahsils. He founded Bhatke Vimukta Vikas Parishad along with eight other sansthas specially working for Bhatke Vimukta Samaj.
An ardent follower of Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) ideology, Idate had conducted ‘Phule-Ambedkar Sandesh Yatra’ in 1990, which covered all districts of Maharashtra marching about 7000 km distance in 47 days.
Later, he organized Samarasata Yatra (2005) which covered nearly 8000 kmdistance. He played a crucial role in organizing first of its kind ‘Samajik Samarasata Sahitya Sammelan’ at Jalgaon. He has takenup several welfare projects for Nomadic Tribes at Ratnagiri, Tuljapur and many other places in Maharashtra. He was Chairman of Idate Committee constituted by the Government of Maharashtra (1999). As a Chairperson of Union Denotified Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes(DNT) Commission (2015), he has made several useful recommendations for the upliftment of DNT communities.
Idate is a great thinker, speaker, writer and leader. He has delivered numerous motivational speeches, wrote seven books and many articles on the subjects of national and social interest. He has established many organisations and has held important positions of other organisations. He did a great job of bringing forward the people who are deprived and downtrodden in the society. Shri. Idate’s work resembles to that of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar.
Many premier institutions and organizations have conferred coveted awards upon Shri Idate like Madhukarrao Deval Samajik Award in 1991; Swami Vivekanand Seva Sanman Samajik Award in 2005; KARMAVEER in 2006; Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Prabodhan Award in 2010; Rashtriya Gaurav Award; GunvantNagarik Award; Bharat Ratna Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Excellence Award; Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Ratna Award; Best Citizen of India; Glory of India Award; Baba AamatePrerana Award; SAMAJIK Award; Atal Samaj Bhushan Award; Jivan Gaurav Award; Mahatma Phule Award; Seva Ratna Rashtra Gaurav Award and many more.
4) Rakesh Radheyshyam Jhunjhunwala
Rakesh Radheyshyam Jhunjhunwala was an Investor, Trader and Philanthropist. He is widely recognized as one of the most successful investors of the world.
Born on 5th July, 1960, Shri Jhunjhunwalawas a Chartered Accountant and held a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from Sydenham college in Mumbai. He began his career in 1985 and started trading in the stock market with an initial investment of just INR 5,000. He was able to turn his small investment into a significant portfolio by investing and trading for over 30 years. His success story has been an inspiration to many aspiring investors.
Jhunjhunwala believed in investing in companies that have strong growth potential, good managements, and a competitive advantage in their respective industries. His investments were not limited to any specific sector, and were spread across various sectors such as banking, pharmaceuticals, and consumer discretionary.
Apart from a successful career in the stock market, Jhunjhunwalawas also involved in various philanthropic activities. He donated generously to various causes. He believed that all Indians must have access to world class education and healthcare, which led to his support of Ashoka University and foundations such as Sankara Eye Hospitals and Agastya, among many others.
Jhunjhunwala is considered an icon in the Indian stock market and is known for his unique investment style and astute market predictions. His success story is a source of inspiration for many aspiring investors in India and around the world.
Jhunjhunwala passed away on 14th August, 2022.
5) Dr. Prabhakar Bhanudas Mande
Dr. Prabhakar Bhanudas Mande is an eminent scholar in the field of Folklore, Folk Culture and Literature.
Born on 16th December, 1933, Dr. Mande completed his Ph.D.in 1967 in the field of Analytical Studies of Folklore. He started his career in 1955 as a Teacher in Government School in Pishor, Aurangabad. He joined Shri Shivaji College, Parbhani in 1961. He was Reader in Marathwada University for 17 years and retired as a Senior Professor in 1993. Some of his important books are ‘Gawgadya Baher’, ‘Ramkathechi Maukhik Parampara’ ‘Lokrangbhoomi’, ‘Mangani Thyanche Magte’ which are honoured by Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad Pune. He has presented more than 25 papers in National, Inter-National conferences held at Hyderabad, Mysore, Kolkata, Madurai, New Delhi, Cuttack and also at Heidelberg University, West Germany and Arizona University, USA (in absence).
Dr. Mande also started his studies on folklore and folk artist. While studying this he specially focused on collecting thousands of folk songs and hundreds of folk stories. He wrote on various folk arts, lifestyle of folk artist and their presentations of culture and tradition. This work has been highly appreciated by various universities. Folk literature was not included in the post-graduation studies at university level. Considering the importance of life style of these people of society, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University included these studies for post-graduation in 1973.
Dr. Mande prepared the syllabus for post-graduation course, wrote books for students which were included by universities for this subject. This subject was included at post-graduation level by other universities of Maharashtra. He established “Loksahitya Research Centre”, a platform to young generations for studying folk lore and research projects on this. He conducted about 50 yearly seminars in Maharashtra and Goa. His many books are translated in Hindi and English languages.
Dr. Mande was honoured by various State and National level awards. He has been honoured with D.Lit in 1991 by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad for his books ‘GawgadyaBaher’ and ‘Sanketik Gupta Bhasha: Parampara and Swaroop’ . He was also honoured with Late Yashwantrao Chavan Puraskar; Honoured by Dr. Mohanjee Bhagwat, Sar Sanghchalak, RSS with_Bhushan Puraskar and the title “Lok Maharshee”; Lok Shahir Annabhau Sathe Jeevan Gaurav by Maharashtra Government; Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad Jeevan Gaurav (Lifetime Achievement); Sangeet Natak Akadami Award from Government of India and many more.
6) Ramesh Raghunath Patange
Ramesh Raghunath Patange is an eminent writer, thinker and social activist. He is the Chairman of the Hindustan Prakashan Sanstha, Mumbai. Besides this, he is co-founder of Samajik Samarasata Munch, Bhatke Vimukta Vikas Parishad [Nomadic Tribes Development Council], Samarasata Sahitya Parishad, Samarasata Adhayan Kendra, Vivek Vyaspeeth.
Born on 9th August, 1944, Shri Patange received his Master of Arts degree from the University of Mumbai in 1972. During Emergency, he went underground and was arrested in 1976 along with Ravindra Varma, the then General Secretary of All India Jana Sangharsha Samittee. He was put under Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and send to Thane Jail, where he remained for 14 months. From 1977 to 1985, he served as the Director of Udyog Krishi Vikas Mandal, a NGO formed with the objective to develop Entrepreneurship among youths.
In 1985, Patange joined Vivek Weekly as co-editor and subsequently become the Chief Editor of the Weekly. Under his leadership, the Vivek reached nooks and corner of Maharashtra. Under his editorship, various volumes were published, such as Govigyan, Rashtra Ratna Atalji, KritirupSamarasata, Rashtra Rushi Shri Guruji, Kritirup Vivekananda, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay, Lokneta-Vishwa neta, etc.
Patange has penned numerous articles on Mahatma Phule and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. His books on Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, such as Sangharsha Mahamanvache, Social Justice and Dr. Ambedkar, Ambedkar and Vivekananda, Dr. Ambedkar a Nation Builder are widely read books. He has written four books on the Constitution of India and another four books on the Constitution of America, Britain, France and Russia. He has delivered lectures on Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Samarasata and the Constitution of India in major Universities of India, various colleges and intellectual forums. He served as member of India Book Trust, Bharat Bhavan Bhopal, Raja Ram Mohan Roy foundation and Central Board of Film Certification. His three books, Me Manu Ani Sangh [I, Manu and RSS], Angustan Te Lekhani [From Tailor to Writer], and Samarastecha Vatsaru [Journey of Samarasata] are his thought stories. These books are regarded as distinct and unique literary contribution in Marathi Literature.
Patange has devoted major part of his life in eradication of caste hierarchy in Hindu Society, practice of untouchability and social injustices. Under his parentership schools for the boys and girls of the Nomadic Tribes are run in Chinchwad (Pune) Yamgarwadi [Dharashiv district] Maharashtra, wherein near about 900 nomadic tribes students are getting education from class one to ten. To create public awareness, under his guidance various seminars, conferences are conducted on the topics of evils of untouchability, caste discriminations and essentials of the Constitution of India.
Patange is the recipient of numerous awards and honours. Madhya Pradesh Government has awarded him Manikchand Vajpayee Rastriya PatrakaritaPuraskar, Government of Maharashtra has awarded him Lokmanya Tilak Jeevan Gourav Patrakarita Puraskar, Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherji Nyas has awarded him Boudhik Yoddha Sanman. Late Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee awarded him Panchajanya Nachiketa Puraskar. Various local bodies have conferred on him various awards for his social, literary and editorial work.
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