A government announcement said former Supreme Court Judges H R Khanna and V R Krishna Iyer, renowned vocalist Bhimsen Joshi, leading carnatic musician D K Pattammal, veteran civil servant Dharam Vira, social workers Nana Deshmukh and P S V Athawale, noted sculptor Satish Gujral, academician and noted historian Sarvepalli Gopal, former Jammu and Kashmir Governor B K Nehru and the late civil servant L P Singh were also nominated for Padma Vibhushan by President K R Narayanan.

Nuclear scientists Anil Kakodkar and K Santhanam -- also key figures in the nuclear tests, veteran thespian Ashok Kumar, litterateurs D C Kizhakemuri (Malayalam), Vidya Niwas Mishra (Sanskrit) and Shiv Mangal Singh Suman (Hindi),space scientist George Joseph, social workers H D Shourie and Jacob Cherian, were among the 14 eminent personalities nominated for Padma Bhushan.

Others nominated for Padma Bhushan were veteran politician Jag Parvesh Chandra, social worker Pushpa Lata Das, opthalmologist S S Badrinath, industrialist S P Godrej and Pandit Ram Kinkar Upadhyay for propagation of Indian culture.

Cricket star Sachin Tendulkar, scriptwriter Javed Akhtar, litterateur Ruskin Bond and noted Mizo social worker Brigadier T Sailo are among the 34 persons nominated for this year's Padma Shri award.

Others nominated for the award are weightlifter K Malleshwari, educationist Asis Dutta, Bashir Badr (Literature), Devendra Triguna (Ayurvedic Medicine), Gian Prakash Chopra (Literature), Harshavardhan Neotia (Trade), Indira Nath (Immunology), Jaganmoy Mitra (Music), Kanhaiya Lal Nandan (Literature), K A Abraham (Cardiology), M S Ramakumar (Nuclear Science), M Venkateswara Rao (Agriculture), Namdev Dhasal (Literature), Natwar Thakkar(Social Work), P Krishna Warrier (Ayurvedic Medicine), Raj Bothra (Medicine), Ram Vanji Sutar (Sculpture), Acharya Ramamurti (Social Work), Rajkumar Jhaljit Singh (Education), Saryu V Doshi (Painting), Satinder Kumar Sikka (Nuclear Science), Satya Vrat Shastri (Sanskrit), Shobha Deepak Singh (Dance), Shyama Chona (Education), Sulochana Latkar (Cine Critic), Sumati Mutatkar (Music), S Rahmath Beegum (Gynaecology), Tsering Wangdus (Painting), Vaidya Balendu Prakash (Ayurvedic Medicine) and Virender Singh Sethi (Defence Technology).