Nation salutes shining stars, unsung heroes
Among unsung heroes were school dropout Jitendra Haripal was got Padma Shri, Anuradha Koirala, and Genabhai Dargabhai Patel.
New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday conferred the Padma awards to 44 recipients, in a glittering ceremony in the imposing Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan, which included celebrities and unsung heroes who have worked for the society.
The focus of this year’s Padma awards, according to the officials in the home ministry, was on recognising talent of unknown and unsung heroes .
Mr Mukherjee conferred Padma Vibhushan on mystic Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev and singer K.J. Yesudas. Wife of former MP CM Sunder Lal Patwa received the award on his behalf. Inventor of musical instrument “Mohan Veena”, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt; Professor of modern languages and Acharya of Kashi Vishvanath Temple, Devi Prasad Dwivedi; Jain monk, Jainacharya Ratnasundersuri Maharaja were conferred Padma Bhushan in a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior Cabinet ministers and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. Journalist Cho S Ramaswamy was also honoured with Padma Bhushan posthumously.
The President awarded Padma Shri to celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor, singer Kailash Kher, Bollywood chronicler Bhawana Somaaya, former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal, Olympians Dipa Karmakar, Sakshi Malik and Vikas Shive Gowda, Paralympic Gold medalist Mariyappan T and others for their excellence.
Karmakar, who was limping because of a knee injury, attracted the attention of PM who asked about her well being.
Among unsung heroes were school dropout Jitendra Haripal was got Padma Shri, Anuradha Koirala, and Genabhai Dargabhai Patel.
Ela Ahmad, Bipin Ganatra, Chintakindi Mallesham, Girish Bharadwaj and Dr Subroto Das also recieved Padma Shri. Other Padma awardees included archaeologist Asoke Kumar Bhattacharyya (posthumously), writer Eli Ahmed, Shehnai maestro Krishna Ram Choudhary, Telecom expert Tripuraneni Hanuman Chowdary, social worker Dattatrey Narayan and journalist Balbir Dutt.
Painter Tilak Gitai, scientist Jitendra Nath Goswami, actor Sadhu Meher, surgeon Mukut Minz, dancer Aruna Mohanty, Birkha Bahadur Subba Muringla and mridangam artist T.K. Murthy also got Padma Shri .
Among 44 persons who were awarded Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri, 40 were present while in three cases, where awards were given posthumously, relatives received it. One recipient of Padma Shri was also not present.