Padma awards for Madhuri, Asha
Star batsman Sachin Tendulkar, Grand Master Viswanathan Anand and renowned mountaineer Edmund Hillary have been chosen for Padma Vibhushan among 13 people who were named for the nation's second highest civilian award on the eve of the Republic Day.
Singer Asha Bhosle, Nobel Prize winner and noted environmentalist RK Pachauri, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Delhi Metro Chief E Sreedharan, former bureaucrat PN Dhar, Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata, Infosys chief mentor NR Narayana Murthy, steel tycoon LN Mittal and former Chief Justice of India Justice AS Anand are among the 13 other personalities who will get the Padma Vibhushan this year.
Thirty-five Padma Bhushan awards and 71 Padma Shri are being given this year. For the seventh consecutive year, no one has been named for the country's highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna. Pranab Mukherjee is the only politician to win a civilian award this year.
Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams, Centre's interlocutor for talks with Naga groups and former Home Secretary K Padmanabhiah, noted commentator Jasdev Singh, DPS RK Puram principal Shyama Chona and ICICI Chief KV Kamath are among those named for Padma Bhushan awards.
Noted French writer Dominique Lapierre, HCL Chief Shiv Nadar, Head of the Citibank Vikram Pandit and former diplomat Chandrashekhar Dasgupta are among the Padma Bhushan awardees. Prominent names among Padma Shri awardees include Hans Raj Hans, Madhuri Dixit, Manoj Night Shyamalan, PK Narayanan Nambiar, Tom Alter, Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Dilip Sardesai, Vinod Dua, Prof Amitabh Mattoo, Baichung Bhutia, Dr Amit Mitra and others.
This is the first time that a civilian award has been conferred on TV journalists in India.
In the trade and industry sector, India's biggest takeover tycoon Ratan Tata and the richest Lakshmi Mittal have been named for this year's second top civilian award 'Padma Vibhushan' .
New CEO of crisis-riddled Citigroup, India-born Vikram Pandit is in for a Padma Bhushan award, a list for which was approved by the President. The list of awardees for the year 2008, includes IT doyen NR Narayana Murthy and leading hotelier PRS Oberoi forfelicitation along with Tata and Mittal with Padma Vibhushan.
ICICI Bank CEO KV Kamath, HCL Technologies Chief Shiv Nadar and industrialists Baba Kalyani and Suresh Kumar Neotia are among those named for Padma Bhushan award, the third top civilian honour.
Economist and Secretary General of apex industry chamber Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Amit Mitra and Colette Mathur, who has been associated with the World Economic Forum, were among those who have been listed for Padma Shree awards.
