Late lyricist and singer Bhupen Hazarika and former civil servant and governor T.V. Rajeswar have been chosen for Padma Vibushan award, the second highest civilian honour, for this year’s Padma awards.
Late cartoonist Mario de Miranda, 88-year-old eminent painter K.G. Subramanyan and Kantilal H. Sancheti, well known orthopaedic in whose hospital in Pune Anna Hazare had undergone treatment recently, were also named for the Padma Vibushan award.
As many as 109 awards, including five Padma Vibushan, Padma Bushan and Padma Shri, from various disciplines and fields of activity were announced on the eve of Republic Day.
14 people in the category of Foreigners, NRIs, PIOs and posthumous figure in the award list today.
There are 19 women among the awardees and about one-third of the awards has gone to those in various disciplines of art category.
No Bharat Ratna this year, too
Nobody was named for the highest honour of Bharat Ratna this year too. Late Bhimsen Joshi was the last awardee in this category in 2008.
Film actors Dharmendra and Shabana Azmi, director Mira Nair, painter Jatin Das, London-based sculpture artist Anish Kapoor and Carnatic instrumentalist T.V. Gopalakrishnan and M.S. Gopalakrishnan get Padma Bushan awards.
Among those picked for Padma Bushan award are B. Muthuraman (Managing Director of Tata Steel), Subbiah Vellayan (industrialist), eminent cardiologist Devi Prasad Shetty and cancer specialist Suresh H Advani.
N. Vittal, who brought Central Vigilance Commission to limelight during his tenure as its Chief, and former Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen, who played a crucial role in the clinching of the Indo-US nuclear deal, were among 27 awarded Padma Bushan.
Noted musician Vanraj Bhatia, playwright Moti Lal Khemmu, famous Bhajan singer Anup Jalota, Malayalam film director Priyadarshan, industrialists Priya Paul and Swati Piramal, eminent diabetologist V Mohan, Marathi theatre playwright Satish Alekar, Vice-Chancellor of Mata Vaishno Devi University Rameshwar Nath Koul Bamezai and agriculture scientist K.L. Chadha were among the 77 persons chosen for Padma Shri awards.
In the sports category, woman cricketer Jhulan Goswami, former hockey Olympian Zaffar Iqbal, archer Limba Ram and cricket commentator of yesteryear Ravi Chaturvedi were picked for Padma Shri awards.