Brajesh Mishra, Azim Premji in list of 128 Padma winners

New Delhi: Former national security advisor Brajesh Mishra, Wipro chief Azim Premji, Planning Commission head Montek Singh Ahluwalia, culture czarina Kapila Vatsyayan and nonagenarian photographer Homai Vyarawalla head the list of the 128 Padma awards announced by the government yesterday on the occasion of Republic Day today.

Eight others who got the Padma Vibhushan, the country's second highest civilian award, include atomic energy scientist P.K. Iyer, educationist A.R. Kidwai, energy expert Vijay Kelkar, litterateurs O.N.V. Kurup and Sitakant Mahapatra and the late Gandhian economist L.C. Jain.

There was no Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award, for the third year running.

The list has 128 names — 13 Padma Vibhushans, 31 Padma Bhushans and 84 Padma Shri awards. There are 31 women in the list.

The third highest awards, the Padma Bhushans, were dominated by 12 personalities from the world of art and cinema, including actors Shashi Kapoor and Waheeda Rahman, music director Khayyam, theatre personality Satyadev Dubey as well as eminent painters Krishen Khanna and Arpita Singh.

Eight people got the Padma Bhushan for their work in the field of trade and industry. Among them were ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar, Infosys' Kris Gopalakrishnan, Ranbaxy's Analjit Singh, NIIT's Rajendra Singh Pawar, GVK Group's G.V.K. Reddy and HCL's Ajai Chowdhary.

Former foreign secretary and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special envoy Shyam Saran has also been awarded the Padma Bhushan.

The 84 Padma Shris include eight NRIs/foreigners. Of the 84, 21 have got it for their role in art, including cinema, dance and theatre. Cinema was represented by Malayalam film industry's actor Jayaram Subramanian, Indian film industry's actors Tabu, Kajol and Irrfan Khan as well as eminent Malayalam director Shaji Neelakantan Karun and Kannada filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli.

Classic act

Classical dancers Sunayana Hazariklal (kathak), K.K. Pavithran (mohiniattam) and M.K. Saroja (bharatnatyam) also figure in the list.

Classical musicians get representation from people such as Ajoy Chakraborty (Indian classical music) and S.R. Janakiraman (Carnatic vocal music).

Renowned puppeteer Dadi Pudumjee was named too as was old-time pop artist Usha Utthup and folk artists like Makar Dhwaja Darogha for Chhau dance.

There are six people who have got the Padma Shri for social work and seven in the category of sports.

These include Sushil Kumar for wrestling, cricketer V.V.S. Laxman, Gagan Narang for shooting and discus thrower Krishna Poonia.

Awards: Five NRI winners

Below are some of the five NRIs, people of Indian origin and three foreigners (out of the 84 people) named for the Padma Shri honours yesterday. n Azad Moopen from the UAE — social work category.

Upendra Baxi from the UK — public and legal affairs.
Indian-born American physicist Mani Lal Bhaumik and Subra Suresh — science and engineering.
NRI Sat Pal Khattar from Singapore — trade and industry.
American linguist and indologist Karl Harrington Potter — literature and education.

List of the Padma awardees

The following is the list of 128 Padma awardees approved by President Pratibha Patil on the eve of the Republic Day Tuesday.