President confers Padma awards

New Delhi, Mar 29 (UNI) The majestic Ashoka Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan reverberated with thunderous applause as 53 eminent citizens including former Chief Justice of India V N Khare, noted actor Konidala Chiranjeevi, well-known architect Charles Correa, herbal cosmetic queen Shahnaz Hussain, litterateur Dinesh Nandini Dalmia, Malayalam poetess Sugathakumari and Ghazal king Pankaj Udhas received the Padma Awards today.

President APJ Abdul Kalam conferred the awards at an impressive half-an-hour function, attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and several cabinet ministers.

A total of 106 prominent personalities were honoured with the civilian awards this year. Of them, 50 were covered in the first phase of the awards function held on March 20.

Today, 56 personalities were to receive the awards, but three of them Hindi writer Mahashweta Devi (Padma Vibhusan), scientist Kunnath Puthiyaveetil Padmanabhan Nambiar and bureaucrat P S Appu (both Padma Bhusan) -- did not turn up for the function.

While Justice Khare and Mr Correa received the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award, Chiranjeevi, Ms Dalmia, constitutional expert P P Rao and CII Chief Mentor Tarun Das were honoured with Padma Bhushan.

Dr Kameswaran, Pankaj Udhas and Ms Sugathakumari were conferred Padma Shri.

On three occasions, Dr Kalam came down from podium to confer the awards on the 89-year-old Arjan Singh (Padma Bhushan), the 80-year-old Prof N S Ramaswamy (Padma Bhushan) and Padma Shri awardee Dr Surinder Kaur, who came in a wheel-chair.

Of the total 106 civilian awards announced for this year, nine were Padma Vibhushan, 36 Padma Bhushan and 61 Padma Shri.

Following is today's list of awardees: Padma Vibhushan: Ms Mahasveta Devi (Literature and Education), Prof Obaid Siddiqui and Charles Correa (both Science and Engineering), Prof Prakash Narain Tandon (Medicine) and Justice V N Khare (Public Affairs).

Padma Bhushan: Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan (Art), Ms Devaki Jain (Social Work), Ms Dinesh Nandini Dalmia (Literature and Education), Hira Lall Sibal (Public Affairs), Air Commodore Jasjit Singh (Defence Services), Prof K G Subramanyam (Art), Kamleshwar Prasad Saxena (Literature and Education), Konidala Chiranjeevi (Art), Kunnath Puthiyaveetil Padmanabhan Nambiar (Science and Engineering), Prof Lokesh Chandra (Literature and Education), Prof Moolamattom Varkey Pylee (Literature and Education), Prof N S Ramaswamy (Social Work), P P Rao (Public Affairs), P S Appu (Civil Service), Ustad Sabri Khan (Art), Dr (Smt) Shanno Khurana (Art), Shashi Bhushan (Public Affairs), Tarun Das (Trade and Industry) and Prof Vijay Shankar Vyas (Literature and Education).

Padma Shri: Sheikh Abdul Rahman Bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud (Public Affairs), Ms Ajeet Cour (Literature and Education), Dr Anil Prakash Joshi (Social Work), Dr Bhuvaraghan Palaniappan (Medicine), Billy Arjan Singh (Wildlife Conservation), Dr Bonbehari Vishnu Nimbkar (Science and Engineering), Ms Fatma Rafiq Zakaria (Literature and Education), Dr Ghanashyam Mishra (Medicine), Prof Hakim Syed Zillur Rehman (Medicine), Swami Hari Govind Maharaj (Art), Dr (Ms) Ilena Citaristi (Art), Prof (Dr) Kamal Kumar Sethi (Medicine), Kashmiri Lal Zakir (Literature and Education), Dr Laltluangliana Khiangte (Literature and Education), Ms Madhumita Bisht (Sports), Madhup Mudgal (Art), Mehmood Dhaulpuri (Art), Dr (Ms) Mehmooda Ali Shah (Literature and Education), Prof Mohan Kameswaran (Medicine), Mohan Singh Gunjyal (Sports), Ms Mrinal Pande (Journalism), Pankaj Udhas (Art), Prasad Sawkar (Art), Dr R Balasubramanian (Science and Engineering), Dr Seyed Ehtesham Hasnain (Science and Engineering), Ms Shahnaz Husain (Trade and Industry), Shree Lal Joshi (Art), Prof Sitanshu Yashaschandra (Literature and Education), Ms Sugathakumari (Literature and Education), Suresh Krishna (Trade and Industry), Ms Surender Kaur (Art), Dr Swaminathan Sivaram (Science and Engineering), Dr Tehemton Erach Udwadia (Medicine), Dr (Ms) Tsering Landol (Medicine) and Ms Vasundra Komkali (Art).

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