Padma Awards: Paes, Gopichand get Padma Bhushan; Yuvraj Padma Shri

mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, Jan 25, 2014 (PTI):  Noted scientist R A Mashelkar and Yoga Guru B.K.S. Iyengar were on Saturday chosen for this year’s Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour, while cine star Kamal Haasan, author Ruskin Bond and late former Chief Justice J.S. Verma were selected for Padma Bhushan.

National Badminton coach P Gopichand, Tennis player Leander Paes, writer Anita Desai and Tamil lyricist and writer Vairamuthu were also picked for Padma Bhushan while cricketer Yuvraj Singh and cine stars Paresh Rawal and Vidya Balan were selected for Padma Shri.

In all, the government announced 127 Padma awards which had no Bharat Ratna this time with cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and noted scientist C.N.R. Rao having been named for this top civilian honour only two months ago.

 

The list included 2 Padma Vibhushans, 24 Padma Bhushans and 101 Padma Shri awardees. They included 27 women and seven foreigners which included NRIs and PIOs.

Three awardees got the honour in the posthumous category and they included N A Dabholkar, an anti-superstition campaigner who was shot dead in Pune last year.

The Padma Shri awardees also included Union Minister Sharad Pawar’s brother Pratap Govindrao Pawar.

The 71-year-old Mashelkar, a former Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), had played a crucial role in evolving science and technology policies in post—liberalised India.

The 95-year-old Iyengar, who was named once by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential persons, had spread yoga across the globe including in countries like China.

59-year-old Haasan was selected for Padma Bhushan for his contribution to the world of cinema. A recipient of Padma Shri in 1990, the actor-director has starred in various hit movies, mainly in Tamil.

Haasan in a career spanning more than five decades, has over 190 films to his credit, across genres and languages like Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

His most famous work is in Tamil cinema in films like ’Moondram Pirai’ and ‘Nayagan’ Haasan has also given memorable hits in Bollywood like ‘Hey Ram’, ‘Sadma’, ‘Chachi 420’ and ‘Ek Duje Ke Liye’

Verma, who pronounced the judgement in the famous Vishakha case after which guidelines to prevent harrassement of women at work place was laid, was selected for the award posthumously.

He headed a three-member commission tasked with reforming anti-rape laws after the infamous December 16, 2012 Delhi gangrape case.

Bangladeshi national Anisuzzaman, an eminent academician of Bengali literature, was also selected for the third highest civilian award.

Singer Parveen Sultana, 63, a classical singer of the Patiala Gharana was among the Padma Bhushan awardees.

In the field of sports, Tennis star Leander Paes and badminton player-turned-coach Pullela Gopichand were selected for Padma Bhushan.

The 40-year-old Paes, who had earlier being conferred Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna Awards, is the most successful tennis player of the country with 14 Grand Slam titles -- eight men’s doubles and six mixed doubles.

Dharmshaktu has climbed Mount Everest five times and won Tenzing Norgey National Adventure Award in 2003.

In 1989, Dharmashaktu climbed Nanda Kot (6861 meters), accompanying as a part of a mountaineering team from Lucknow.

He was part of mountaineering teams that attempted Mamostong Kangri (7516 mt) in Ladakh and Nanda Bhaner (6236 mt) during 1992.

Boniface Prabhu, is one of the pioneers of wheelchair tennis in India. He has competed in all the major Grand Slam Wheelchair Tennis Championships including the Australian Open, British Open, French Open and US Open. He is the first Indian wheelchair tennis player to reach the semifinals and finals of all these tournaments.

The 42-year-old represented India 52 times in six different sporting events including shot put, badminton, javelin and discus throw and won medals in many of them. He is a quadriplegic by disability, which means he has no control or sensation in his lower limbs.

Mamta Sodha, 27, from Kaithal district of Haryana, scaled Mt Everest in 2011. She is working as the deputy superintendent of police and awarded Rs 21 lakh for her achievement by the state government.