Lyricist and singer Bhupen Hazarika and cartoonist Mario de Miranda were named posthumously for the Padma Vibhushan award, India's second highest civilian honour.
Eminent painter K.G. Subramanyan and Kantilal H. Sancheti, noted orthopaedic surgeon of Pune who had treated social activist Anna Hazare in his hospital recently, and the former Governor, T.V. Rajeswar, were also chosen for the Padma Vibhushan.
As many as 109 awards — five Padma Vibhushan, 27 Padma Bhushan and 77 Padma Shri — from various disciplines and spheres of activity such as social work, literature, civil service, sports, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, education, art and music were announced on the eve of the Republic Day.
As many as 14 persons in the category of foreigners, NRIs, PIOs and posthumous figure in the list. There are 19 women among this year's awardees. The Padma Vibhushan is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; Padma Bhushan for distinguished service of high order and Padma Shri for distinguished service in any field.
The highest civilian honour of Bharat Ratna has not gone to anybody this year as well. The last Bharat Ratna awardee was in 2008 — eminent vocalist Bhimsen Joshi, who got it posthumously.
From the Hindi film world, Dharmendra, who enlivened the silver screen with his “macho” image and portrayed many characters for several decades, and Shabana Azmi, who was credited with playing a wide range of roles in parallel cinema with marked sensitivity, and noted director Mira Nair figure in the list of Padma Bhushan awardees.
Among other Padma Bhushan awardees are veteran painter Jatin Das, London-based sculptor Anish Kapoor and Carnatic musicians T.V. Gopalakrishnan and M.S. Gopalakrishnan. Others who were chosen for the Padma Bushan are B. Muthuraman (Managing Director of Tata Steel), Subbiah Vellayan (industrialist), eminent cardiologist Devi Prasad Shetty and cancer specialist Suresh H. Advani.
N. Vittal, who headed a refurbished Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and brought the anti-corruption body to the limelight during his tenure, and the former Ambassador to the U.S., Ronen Sen, who played a key role in clinching the India-U.S. nuclear deal, were among the 27 distinguished persons named for the Padma Bhushan.
Noted musician Vanraj Bhatia, playwright Moti Lal Khemmu, famous Bhajan singer Anup Jalota, Malayalam film director Priyadarshan, industrialists Priya Paul and Swati Piramal, eminent diabetologist V. Mohan, Marathi theatre playwright Satish Alekar, Vice-Chancellor of Mata Vaishno Devi University Rameshwar Nath Koul Bamezai, agriculture scientist K.L. Chadha, social worker Uma Tuli, noted Homoeopath Mukesh Batra and neurologist Noshir H. Wadia were among 77 chosen for the Padma Shri.
In the sports category, woman cricketer Jhulan Goswami, the former hockey Olympian, Zaffar Iqbal, archer Limba Ram and Hindi cricket commentator of yesteryear Ravi Chaturvedi were named for the Padma Shri.
President Pratibha Devisingh Patil will present the awards in March/April at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, says a release.
