President Pratibha Patil confers Padma awards

Late cartoonist Mario Miranda, actors Dharmendra and Shabana Azmi, top mathematician MS Raghunathan, former chief vigilance commissioner N Vittal and industry leader B Muthuraman were among those conferred the Padma awards by President Pratibha Patil here on Wednesday.

Miranda's son Rahul received the Padma Vibhushan from Patil at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan which was attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and a host of other dignitaries.

A loud round of applause reverbated in the majestic Durbar Hall when filmstar Dharmendra stepped forward to receive the Padma Bhushan award from the President.

Shutterbugs had a field day as actor-turned-activist Shabana Azmi received the Padma Bhushan.

Among the Padma Bhushan awardees were literary theorist Homi K Bhabha, violinist MS Gopalakrishnan, Tata Steel Vice Chairman B Muthuraman, former bureaucrat Mata Prasad, mathematician Raghunathan, jurist P Chandrasekhara Rao, Vittal, neurologist Noshir Hormusji Wadia and former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yong-Boon Yeo.

88-year-old eminent painter KG Subramanyan (Padma Vibushan), Satya Narayan Goenka and Jose Pereira (Padma Bhushan) were not present at the ceremony.

Among the Padma Shri awardees were industrialist Swati Piramal, eminent diabetologist V Mohan, former hockey Olympian Zaffar Iqbal, archer Limba Ram and cricket commentator of yesteryear Ravi Chaturvedi.

Yakshagana exponent Ramachandra Subraya Hegde Chittani, sitar maestro Shahid Parvez Khan, terracotta artist Mohan Lal Kumhar, Rajasthani folk musician Sakar Khan Manganiar also received the Padma Shri.

Odissi dancer Minati Mishra, theatre personality R Nagarathnamma, Lavani exponent Yamunabai Waikar and Chhau dancer Gopal Prasad Dubey Art also received the Padma Shri.

Among the other Padma Shri awardees were Laila Tyabji (Handicrafts), Vijay Sharma (Painting), Reeta Devi, Niranjan Pranshankar Pandya, Sat Paul Varma and Phoolbasan Bai Yadav (Social Work).

Scientists V Adimurthy, Virander Singh Chauhan, Vijaipal Singh, YS Rajan and Jagdish Shukla were among the Padma Shri awardees.

Distinguished Chartered Accountant Yezdi Hirji Malegam, industrialists Gopinath Pillai and Swati A Piramal, archaeologist K Paddayya and environmentalist Kartikeya V Sarabhai received the Padma Shri.

Prof Mahdi Hasan, Shrinivas S Vaishya and Vallalarpuram Sennimalai Natarajan received the Padma Shrin in the medicine category.

The Padma Shri conferees in the Literature and Education category were Eberhard Fischer, Surjit Singh Patar, Irwin Allan Sealy, Sachchidanand Sahai and Ralte L Thanmawia.

Prabhakar Vaidya received the Padma Shri in the Physical Education category, while T Venkatapathi Reddiar was honoured for his contribution to horticulture.

Homeopath Late Jugal Kishore was also among the Padma Shri awardees but no one from his family was present to receive the award.