Write Comment     |     E-Mail To a Friend     |     Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Print

President Pratibha Patil on Friday presented the second lot of Padma awards for 2011 to 64 winners, including Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the former Attorney-General K. Parasaran, WIPRO chief Azim Premji, Telugu film star Akkineni Nageswara Rao, and the former Finance Commission Chairman Vijay Laxman Kelkar, who were honoured with the Padma Vibhushan.

In all, the government had announced 128 awards — 13 Padma Vibhushan, 31 Padma Bhushan and 84 Padma Sri on Republic Day eve. At the first investiture ceremony on March 24, the President presented the awards to four Padma Vibhushan, 15 Padma Bhushan and 42 Padma Shri winners. On Friday, eight persons received the Padma Vibhushan, 16 the Padma Bhushan and 40 the Padma Shri. The other Padma Vibhushan recipients honoured on Friday were the first woman photo journalist, Homai Vyarawalla, scientist Palle Rama Rao and Oriya Laureate Sitakant Mahapatra.

Those who received the Padma Bhushan included actor Shashi Kapoor, National Security Advisory Board member Shyam Saran, Infosys co-founder S. Gopalakrishnan, HCL co-founder Ajai Chowdhry, NIIT Group chairman R.S. Pawar, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories chairman K. Anji Reddy, ICICI managing director Chanda Kochhar, singer Dwijen Mukherjee, Rajashree Birla of the Aditya Birla Group, theatre director Satyadev Dubey, journalist and author T.J.S.George, artists Arpita Singh and Krishen Khanna and educationist R.M. Pai.

Two Padma Bhushan awards were presented posthumously to cardiologist Keki Byram Grant and designer Dasharath Patel.

Among the Padma Shri awardees were actors Kajol Devgan and Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan, singer Usha Uthup, filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli, sportspersons Gagan Narang and Krishna Poonia, Tamil scholar Avvai Natarajan, legal expert Upendra Baxi, social worker M.A. Chen, mountaineer Harbhajan Singh, musician S.R. Janakiraman, journalist Barun Mazumdar, architect C.N. Raghavendran and U.S. National Science Foundation Director Subra Suresh.

The other Padma Shri awardees were Suman Sahai, K. Raghavendra Rao, M. Ahmed Ali, S. Vittal, O.P. Agrawal, Devanoora Mahadeva, Anita Reddy, P.K. Marar, D.P. Dwivedi, Sunayana Hazarilal, Krishna Kumar, Mahima Bora, P.S.R. Chandrudu, J.S. Mhase, Gulshan Nanda, Sheela Patel, K. Pavithram, A. Marthanda Pillai, Buangi Sailo, G.N. Shankar, D.D. Sharma, N.D. Sharma, E.A. Siddiq, Mamang Dai, Makar Dhwaja Darogha, K.H. Tailor and N.S.B. Zipashni.