Kasturirangan, Narayan honoured with Padma Vibhushan

Kasturirangan, Narayan honoured with Padma Vibhushan
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, March 30: Leading lights in the fields of science, education and culture like ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan, novelist R K Narayan, flutist Hariprasad Chaurasia and vocalist Jasraj Motiram were among those honoured with the nation's highest civilian award -- Padma Vibhushan -- by President K R Narayanan here today.

Chief Election Commissioner Manohar Singh Gill, Odissi maestro Kelucharan Mahapatra, former Governor B D Pande and BJP leader Sikander Bakht were also among 13 stalwarts who were awarded the Padma Vibhushan at a glittering civil investiture ceremony at the majestic Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The oldest among those honoured was 124-year-old sage from Bagpat district of Uttar Pradesh, Swami Kalyan Dev, who walked upto the Presidential dais with the help of two of his disciples to receive the Padma Bhushan.

After receiving the award, he blessed Narayanan and later while returning to his seat Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who stood up in respect. The swami, who was born on June 21, 1876, was honoured for his yeoman service towards spreading education and fighting social evils.

Among the Padma Vibhushan awardees were economist Prof K N Raj, distinguished civil servant Dr K B Lall, Administrative Staff College chairman M Narasimham and eminent former Planning Commission member Tarlok Singh.

Another noted economist Jagdish N Bhagwati, who was not present at the ceremony, was also honoured with the award.

Noted Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, industrialist Ratan Naval Tata, superstar Rajnikant, kuchipudi exponents Radha and Raja Reddy, environmentalist Anil K Agarwal and H Y Sharada Prasad, who served three Prime Ministers as Information Adviser, were among the 20 Padma Bhushan awardees.

The President stepped down from the podium to honour 91-year-old Begum Kudsia Aizaz Rasul, who was conferred the Padma Bhushan for her active role in maintaining communal harmony and social work.

Among the 42 noted scholars, authors, artists, social workers and scientists were music composer A R Rahman, adman Alyque Padamsee, painter Anjolie Ela Menon, cinestar Hema Malini, vocalist Shubha Mudgal, film director Shekhar Kapur, Everester Santosh Yadav and film producer Ramanand Sagar.

Satya Narayan Gourisaria, who has since 1983 been secretary of the London-based India League which played a major role during freedom struggle, was honoured with Padma Shri. He was also instrumental in founding the `India Weekly' in 1964 to counter the systematic anti-Indian propoganda in the British media.

Another stalwart of yesteryears honoured with the award was Janaky Athi Nahappan, who was a captain in Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army and had also played a lead role in Malaysia's struggle for independence.

Russian Indologist Grigory L Bondarevsky, President of SOS Children's Village J N Kaul and noted Bengali author and first wife of Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, Nabaneeta Dev Sen, were honoured with Padma Shri.

The honour of Padma Bhushan was also conferred on educationist D V Heggade, cardiologist Habans Singh Wasir, forensic scientist P Chandra Sekharan, electronics expert P V Indiresan, CSIR Director General R A Mashelkar, defence scientist Ram Narain Agarwal, Sarod maestro Sharan Rani Backliwal and scientific adviser to Defence Minister V K Aatre.

Other Padma Shri Awardees are: Abdur Rahman Rahi, Aloysius Prakash Fernandez, Dilip Devidas Bhawalkar, Dina Nath Malhotra, Enuga Sreenivasulu Reddy, Gopalasamy Govindarajan, Gurudev Singh Khush, Gurumukh Sajanmal Sainani, Hanumappa Sudarshan, Immaneni Sathyamurthy, Jagan Nath Kaul, Prof Kakarla Subbarao, Kalika Prasad Sexena, Kanhai Chitrakar, Kirpal Singh Chugh, Mahendra Bhandari, Mandan Mishra, Mathew Samuel Kalarickal, Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy, Pahlira Sena Chawngthyu, Parasu Ram Mishra, Patricia Mukhim, Piloo Nowshir Jungalawalla, Pradeep Kumar Dave, Rabindra Nath Upadhyay, Vaidya Suresh Chandra Chaturvedi, Vijay Pandurang Bhatkar and Vipin Buckshey.