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Clockwise from top left: Deepa Karmakar, Sakshi Malik, Deepa Malik and Virat Kohli, who have been selected for the Padma Shri award this year. Image Credit: PTI
New Delhi: Political stalwarts Murli Manohar Joshi, Sharad Pawar and former Lok Sabha speaker P A Sangma, cricketer Virat Kohli and Carnatic musician K J Yesudas were among the 89 people who were selected for this year’s Padma awards.
Joshi, Pawar, Sangma and Yesudas figured among the list of seven people who were selected for Padma Vibhushan, country’s second highest civilian award. Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour, will not be conferred on anybody this year.
Among the other awardees in this category were Prof Udupi Ramachandra Rao, former Chairman of Isro, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, spiritual master, yogi and mystic who has 7 million volunteers across the world, and Sunder Lal Patwa, former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and a BJP veteran.
Out of the seven, Sangma and Patwa have been chosen for the award posthumously.
The number of Padma awardees this year is 89, which includes seven recipients each for Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan.
Out of this, 19 of the awardees are women. The list also includes five persons from the category of foreigners, NRIs, PIOs and 6 posthumous awardees.
For the first time, the Padma list does not include any Bollywood actor.
Yoga Guru Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati, father of laparoscopic surgery in India Tehemton Udwadia, Grammy awardee and Hindustani classical instrumentalist Vishwa Mohan Bhat, Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhron were among seven people selected for Padma Bhushan.
Other awardees in this category included Sanskrit scholar Devi Prasad Dwivedi, Jain Spritual Guru Ratna Sundar Maharaj and editor and political satirist Cho Ramaswamy, on whom the award will be conferred posthumously.
Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli, Sakshi Malik, the first woman wrestler from the country to win an Olympic medal, former Lok Sabha Secretary General T K Vishwanathan, Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, former diplomat Kanwal Sibal and singer Kailash Kher are among 75 people chosen for this year’s Padma Shri awards.
Well-known endocrinologist M M Godbole, film critic Bhawana Somaaya, Farsi writer K N Pandita and French historian Michel Danino were among others who were selected for Padma Shri awards.
The government had received 18,000 nominations this time out of which 4,000 were submitted online.
Yesudas, who has a record contribution of more than 50,000 film songs in various languages, including Malayalam, Tamil, Bengali and Hindi, has already been a recipient of the Padma Shri (1975) and the Padma Bhushan (2002).
The singer, 77, has made many songs memorable with his mellifluous voice, but for Hindi cinema music fans he is best known for songs like ‘Jab Deep Jale Aaana’, ‘Gori Tera Gaon’ and ‘Surmai Ankhiyon Mein’ from “Chitchor” and “Sadma”.
Bhatt, who is credited with the creation of the ‘Mohan Veena’, is a former disciple of Pt Ravi Shankar. The musician is one of the most recognised names in Indian classical music scene.
Kher, known for his earthy-Sufi voice, said it was an “overwhelming” moment for him to be recognised by his country.
Celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor, who has been named for Padma Shri, said it is great to be acknowledged for an “unconventional” field.
100-year-old Chemancheri Kunhiraman Nair, a noted Kathakali dancer from Kerala, also features in the list so does Bharathi Vishnuvardhan, a former leading actress in the Kannada film industry.
Nonagenarian Bhakti Yadav, popularly known as “Doctor Dadi” from Indore, and captain of Indian cricket team of blind Shekhar Naik are among the unsung heroes who were on Wednesday named for Padma Shri.
Dipa Karmakar, who finished fourth in artistic gymnastics at Rio Olympics last year, and gold medallist at Rio Paralympics Mariyappan Thangavelu also figured in the list of Padma Shri awardees.
