Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Ebrahim Alkazi conferred Padma Vibhushan
Pratap Chandra Reddy, founder chairman of Apollo Hospitals, was also conferred the Padma Vibhushan.
Nobel laureate of Indian origin Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, noted theatre personality Ebrahim Alkazi were today conferred Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award by president Pratibha Patil here today. Music maestro A R Rahman and Bollywood star Aamir Khan, classical vocalist Pandit Channulal Mishra and prominenthotelier Capt C P Krishnan Nair were among those honoured withPadma Bhushan awards at a glittering ceremony at the AshokaHall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan here.Pratap Chandra Reddy, founder chairman of Apollo Hospitals, was also conferred the Padma Vibhushan.
The entire Ashoka Hall reverberated with applause as sportspersons Saina Nehwal and Virendra Sehwag walked up tothe podium to receive their Padma Shri awards from thepresident. Hockey national Ignace Tirkey, dhrupad exponent Ustad Faiyaz Wasifuddin Dagar, businesswoman Anu Aga, multi-lingual actress Arundhati Nag, former CBI director D R Karthikeyan,plant scientist Palpu Pushpangadan and eye surgeon VikasMahatme were among those who were awarded Padma Shri.Among the Padma Bhushan awardees this year are eminent neurosurgeon Satya Paul Agarwal and eminent cardiac surgeonRamakant Panda, who performed 'beating heart' on primeminister Manmohan Singh last year.Former vice chancellor of Goa University P R Dubhashi for civil service, Prof Tan Chung and Prof A J Paulraj received the award in literature and education and science and engineering categories respectively.Planning commission member Abhijit Sen and S K Bandyopadhyay received Padma Bhushan in the public affairscategory.
In the trade and industry category Alluri Venkata Satyanarayana Raju, founder chairman of Nagarjuna Construction Company, J R Gangaramani, President of Al Fara'a Group in the UAE and Ravi Pillai of RP Group of industries received Padma Shri awards.Padma Shri was also conferred on environmental crusaderBaba Sewa Singh, vocalist Ulhas Kashalkar, scientist Vijayalakshmi Ravindranath, cardiologist K K Agarwal.
Former Union minister Balasaheb Vikhe Patil got Padma Bhushan for social work.Among others who received the Padma Bhushan were Arogyaseami Joseph Paulraj, Balgangadharnatha Swamiji, Jagdish Chandra Kapur, Kushal Pal Singh, Mohammad Amin, N C Satyanarayana, P K Warrier, Ram Kumar, Satya Paul Agarwal,Satyavrat Shastri and Shripaul Oswal.
Padma Shri was also conferred on Arvind Kumar, A T Meetei, B Ramana Rao, Bertha Gyndykes Dkhar, Carmel Berkson, Gul Bardhan, Hari Uppal, Jitendra Udhampuri, Lalzuia Colney, Laxmi Chand Gupta, M R Satyanarayana Rao, Maria Aurora Couto, Mukund Lath, Philip Augustine, Ponisseril Somasundaram,Rabindra Narain Singh, Rafael Irubieta Fernandez, PanditRagunath Panigrahi, Ram Dayal Munda, Sumitra Guha, andSurendra Dubey.The nephew of Late Ramaranjan Mukherjee, 'Vivekananda Professor' at Ramkrishna Mission for Culture, Kolkata receivedthe award on his behalf.Noted scholar Govind Chandra Pande (Padma Shri) and poet Pandit Puttaraj Kavi Gavaigalavaru (Padma Bhushan) were not present to receive their respective awards.