With a huge pool of talent across sectors, Maharashtra scored the highest -- 12 for 13 awardees, including a couple -- in the 112 Padma national awards announced by President Ram Nath Kovind in the 70th Republic Day honours list.
These include two Padma Vibhushans, the second-highest civilian award, one Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian honour and nine Padma Shris, the fourth-highest civilian honour.
The Padma Vibhushan nominees are: Mumbai-based 77-year-old A.M. Naik, Group Executive Chairman of Larsen & Toubro Ltd; and renowned author and theatre personality Pune-based B.M. Purandare, 96.
The sole Padma Bhushan awardee is well-known medico from Latur, Ashok L. Kukade, specialising in providing affordable healthcare vide Core India Institute of Legal Medicine and through the Vivekananda Hospital founded by him.
Among the nine Padma Shri winners are veteran National Award winning Bollywood actor Manoj Bajpayee, 49 and well-known comedian on stage and films Dinyar Contractor, 89.
The others are Sudam L. Kate for research in Sickle Cell disease, a genetic disorder found among SC/ST/OBCs in Maharashtra, and renowned theatre personality Waman Kendre, who is Director, National School of Drama, New Delhi.
A Maharashtra-based medico-couple -- Ravindra D. Kolhe and his wife Smita R. Kolhe -- have been honoured for helping transform Melghat, one of the most backward tribal areas of Amravati, into a farmer suicide-free zone, earning laurels.
Another prominent presence is National Award winning singer-music director Shankar Mahadevan Narayan, of the famed Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio, renowned for composing music for some of the biggest Bollywood blockbusters.
Senior academician and oldest Gujarati columnist, 99-year-old Nagindas Sanghavi also figures along with Shabbir B. Sayyad, hailing from a family of butchers who is now a leading 'gau-rakshak' in Beed, with a stable of over 160 cows.
Besides, there is a former Mumbaikar - the legendary Bollywood actor and writer, Kader Khan - who had acquired Canadian citizenship and passed away on January 1 in Toronto. He was named for the Padma Shri posthumously.
--IANS
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