The government announced Padma Awards on Thursday, keeping its promise of honouring “unsung heroes”. Among the prime recipients of the Padma Bhushan awards were Mahendra Singh Dhoni, cueist Pankaj Advani, former Russian Ambassador to India late Alexander Kadakin, Hindustani classical musician Arvind Parikh, Tamil Nadu-based archaeologist Ramachandran Nagaswamy and Goan artist Laxman Pai.
Among the awardees, three were Padma Vibhushan, nine Padma Bhushan, and 73 Padma Shri. 16 awardees were either foreigners, PIOs, or NRIs, while three of the awards were conferred posthumously. In all, 85 people were honoured for their work in various fields.
74-year-old Illaiyaraja, who has been conferred with Padma Bhushan in 2009, was selected for Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award after Bharat Ratna.
Besides him, noted Hindustani classical singer Ghulam Mustafa Khan, President of Vivekananda Kendra Kanyakumari Parameswaran Parameswaran from Kerala were honoured with Padma Vibhushan.
Arvind Gupta, an IIT Kanpur alumnus who inspired generations of students to learn science from thrash, has also been honoured by Padma Shri.
Gupta visited 3,000 schools in four decades, made 6,200 short films on toy-making in 18 languages and also hosted popular TV show Tarang in the 1980s.
Internationally-acclaimed Gond artist and creator of The London Jungle Book which sold 30,000 copies, Bhajju Shyam has also been awarded the Padma Shri.
Noted Kashmir theatre artist Pran Kishore Kaul, who shot to fame with his screenplay of famous TV serial Gul Gulshan Gulfaam, has been awarded Padma Shri.
Kerala’s medical messiah to terminally ill, MR Rajagopal, who has specialised in pain relief care for neonatal cases has also been honoured by Padma Shri.
Maharashtra’s Murlikant Petkar, India’s first para- Olympic gold medalist, who lost his arm in 1965 Indo-Pak war, is another winner of the Padma Shri.
Tamil Nadu’s Rajagopalan Vasudevan, who is known as plastic road-maker of India, developed a patented and innovative method to reuse plastic waste to construct roads, has also been given the Padma Shri.
Subhasini Mistry, a poor lady from rural West Bengal, who toiled 20 years as a housemaid and daily labourer to build a hospital for poor in the state, is another awardee.
Nonagenarian farm labourer Sulagatti Narasamma, who provides midwifery services in the backward region of Karnataka without any medical facility, too was awarded the Padma Shri.
Vijayalakshmi Navaneethakrishnan, an acclaimed Tamil folk exponent, who has dedicated her life towards collection, documentation, and preservation of Tamil folk and tribal music, has also been given Padma Shri.
Another awardee is Yeshi Dhoden, monk physician of Tibetan herbal medicine working in remote areas of Himachal Pradesh.
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