Padma awards for Premji, Kiran, Kumble

Padma awards for Premji, Kiran, Kumble
Deccan Herald

The late National Security Advisor J N Dixit and cartoon maestro R K Laxman have been awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour of the country, while WIPRO chairman Azim Premji and Biocon chief Kiran Majumdar Shaw have been conferred with the Padma Bhushan and cricket star Anil Kumble, Bollywood ‘badshah’ Shah Rukh Khan and singer Kavitha Krishnamurthy with the Padma Shri this year, reports DHNS from New Delhi.

President A P J Abdul Kalam has also approved the names of Australian social worker Gladys Steins, the wife of slain missionary Graham Stuart Steins, Olympic silver medalist Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, former All England Badminton champion P Gopichand and Sunita Narain of Centre for Science and Environment which raised the issue of pesticides in soft drinks for the Padma Shri award. Ninety-six names people have been selected for this year’s Padma Awards.
Altogether nine persons have been selected for the Padma Vibhushan. Apart from the late Dixit and Mr Laxman, they are Attorney General Milon Kumar Banerji, senior Congress leader and philosopher Karan Singh, social worker Mohan Dharia, industrialist Bhai Mohan Singh, doctors Bal Krishna Goyal and M V S Valiathan and artiste Ram Narayan.

The Padma Bhushan award has been conferred upon 30 people, including singer Manna Dey, noted journalist Mark Tully, film director Yash Chopra, Left-leaning historians Prof Irfan Habib and Romila Thapar and environmentalist Chandi Prasad Bhatt.

Padma Bhushan awardees include former J&K Chief Minister Syed Mir Qassim, doctors Tarlochan Singh Kler, K Srinath Reddy, Anil Kohli and Hari Mohan, economist Mrinal Datta Chaudhuri, sociologist Andre Beteille and educationists Balraj Puri and Mrinal Miri. Writer-filmmaker M T Vasudevan Nair and Urdu litterateur Qurratulain Hyder have been honoured with Padma Bhushans. Among the Padma Shri award winners are Hindustan Times vice-chairperson Sobhna Bhartia, Kashmiri singer Shameem Dev Azad, civil liberties lawyer Indira Jaisingh, dancer Komala Vardan, Mammen Mathew of Malayala Manorama, filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, former athlete Gurbachan Singh Randhawa and skydiver Rachel Thomas. Prominent Padma Shri award winners include dancer Kumkum Mohanty, violinist K K Vaidyanathan, social worker Nana Chudasama and folk singer Puran Chand Wadali.

State corners 10 awards
New Delhi, dhns: Karnataka shone in the Padma Awards cornering 10 of the 96 awards.

The Karnataka brigade is led by WIPRO chairman Azim Premji and Biocon chief Kiran Majumdar-Shaw, both of whom won the Padma Bhushan. Retired civil servant T R Satish Chandran and scientist Dr Narasimhiah Seshagiri are the other two Padma Bhushan awardees from the state. There are six Padma Shri winners from the state- cricketer Anil Kumble, theatre personality K V Subbanna, scientists Prof Bhagavatula Dattaguru and Dr Mahadevappa Madappa, civil servant K C Reddy and singer Kavita Krishnamurti.