Nobel laureate of Indian origin Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, former Reserve Bank of India governor Y V Reddy and chairman of the Apollo Hospitals group, Prathap Chandra Reddy, are among the six people awarded the Padma Vibhushan — the country’s second highest civilian honour. The home ministry announced this year’s list of Padma awardees today.
The three other Padma Vibhushan awardees are theatre personality Ebrahim Alkazi, actor Zohra Sehgal and Mridangam maestro Umayalpuram K Sivaraman.
While P C Reddy is the only awardee under the “trade and industry” discipline, the former RBI chief is the lone awardee from the “public affairs” discipline. The Apollo Hospitals group is considered the first major corporate healthcare solutions company in the country.
Captain C P Nair, chairman of the Leela Palaces Hotels and Kushal Pal Singh, chairman of the DLF Group, and Hindustan Unilever’s ex-chairman Manvinder Singh Banga, are among the 43 people awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest honour.
Vardhman Group of Companies chairman S P Oswal, and former ICICI Bank CEO Narayanan Vaghul will also represent the trade and industry discipline in the category. US-based hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal has been nominated for a Padma Bhushan award but under the category of public affairs.
“I am delighted. I would only want to say that as a proud Indian, I will continue to work painstakingly to ensure that I serve my country in the best possible way to ensure that India and the US remain friends,” Chatwal said on hearing the news.
Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, Oscar-winning musician A R Rahman, Sarangi maestro Ustad Sultan Khan, dancer Mallika Sarabhai, music director Ilaiyaraaja and Indian-American editor Fareed Zakaria are among the other Padma Bhushan awardees.
However, the government did not name anyone for the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian honour.
Industrialist B Raveendran Pillai of Bahrain, Deepak Puri of HDFC, Irshad Mirza of Mirza International, Kapil Mohan of Mohan Meakin, Venu Srinivasan of the TVS group, former chief of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India T N Manoharan, A V Satyanarayana Raju and Nirma group’s Karsanbhai Khodidas Patel, and Anu Aga of Thermax India are among the 81 people named for the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award.
Cricketer Virendra Sehwag, badminton player Saina Nehwal, ace cricketer Sachin Tendulkar’s coach Ramakant V Achrekar, actors Rekha and Saif Ai Khan, photographer Nemai Ghosh, Oscar-winning sound technician Resul Pookutty are among the other Padma Shri awardees.
According to a home ministry release, this year the President has approved 130 awards, including 13 in the category of foreigners/ non-resident Indians or people of Indian origin.
President Pratibha Patil will give away the awards at a ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan after a couple of months.
