Padma Vibhushan for Rajinikanth, Dhirubhai Ambani, Jagmohan

New Delhi/ Port Blair, Jan. 25: Andaman’s Film Director, Naresh Chandra Lal has been selected for the prestigious Padma Shri award for his contribution to the society and efforts to project the unique culture of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, known to be the best example for Unity in Diversity. The Award was announced today and communicated to Naresh Chandra Lal from the Home Ministry this morning.

Meanwhile, Superstar Rajinikanth, founder of the Reliance empire late Dhirubhai Ambani, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and media baron Ramoji Rao have been chosen for Padma Vibhushan, country’s second highest civilian award, this year.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Jagmohan, former DRDO chief V K Aatre, cancer specialist and chairperson of Adyar Cancer Institute Dr V Shanta and eminent Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi dancer Yamini Krishnamurthi and classical vocalist Girija Devi and Indian—American economist Avinash Dixit have also been named for Padma Vibhushan on the occasion of this year’s Republic Day celebrations.

Noted actor Anupam Kher, singer Udit Narayan, former CAG Vinod Rai, chairperson of media group Bennett, Coleman & Co. Indu Jain, sports star Sania Mirza and Saina Nehwal, spiritual leaders late Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Swami Tejomayananda and former US Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill are among the 19 eminent people chosen for Padma Bhushan.

Industrialist Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry, Maruti Suzuki chairman R C Bhargava and eminent architect Hafeez Contractor also figure in the list of Padma Bhushan awardees.

Senior lawyer Ujjwal Nikam, who was the prosecution counsel in the Mumbai terror attack case, actors Ajay Devgn and Priyanka Chopra get Padma Shri. Andaman’s film director Naresh Chandra Lal has also made it among the list of Padma Shri awardees, thus becoming the second person from the islands to receive the title.  

The list of Padma awardees are as follows:

PADMA VIBHUSHAN

Yamini Krishnamurthi, Rajinikanth, Girija Devi, Ramoji Rao, Dr. Shanta Viswanathan, Shri Shri Ravi Shankar, Jagmohan, Dr. Vasudev Kalkunte Aatre, Avinash Dixit, Dhiru Bhai Ambani (Posthumous)

PADMA BHUSHAN

Anupam Kher, Udit Narayan, Ram V. Sutar, Heisnam Kanhailal, Vinod Rai, Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad, N. S. Ramanuja Tatacharya, Barjinder Singh Hamdard, Prof. D. Nageshwar Reddy, Swami Tejomayananda, Hafeez Contractor, Ravindra Chandra Bhargava, Venkata Rama Rao Alla, Saina Nehwal, Sania Mirza, Indu Jain, Swami Dayanand Sarawasati (Posthumous), Robert Blackwill, Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry

PADMA SHRI 

Prathibha Prahlad, Bhikhudan Gadhvi, Sribhas Chandra Supakar, Ajay Devgn, Priyanka Chopra, Pt. Tulsidas Borkar, Dr. Soma Ghosh, Nila Madhab Panda, S.S. Rajamouli, Madhur Bhandarkar, Prof. M. Venkatesh Kumar, Gulabi Sapera, Mamta Chandrakar, Malini Awasthi, Jai Prakash Lekhiwal, K. Laxma Goud, Bhalchandra Dattatray Mondhe, Naresh Chander Lal, Dhirendra Nath Bezbaruah, Prahlad Chandra Tasa, Dr.Ravindra Nagar, Dahyabhai Shastri, Dr.Santeshivara Bhyrappa, Haldar Nag, Kameshwaram Brahma, Prof. Pushpesh Pant, Jawaharlal Kaul, Ashok Malik, Dr.Mannam Gopi Chand, Prof. Ravi Kant, Prof. Ram Harsh Singh, Prof. Shiv Narain Kureel, Dr.Sabya Sachi Sarkar, Dr. Alla Gopala Krishna Gokhale, Prof. T.K. Lahiri, Dr. Praveen Chandra, Prof. (Dr) Daljeet Singh Gambhir, Dr.Chandrasekar Shesadri Thoguluva, Dr. Anil Kumari Malhotra, Prof. M.V. Padma Srivastava, Dr. Sudhir V. Shah, Dr. M. M. Joshi, Prof. (Dr) John Ebnezar, Dr. Nayudamma Yarlagadda, Simon Oraon, Imitiaz Qureshi, Piyush Pandey, Subhash Palekar, Ravinder Kumar Sinha, Dr. H.R. Nagendra, M. C. Mehta, M. N. Krishna Mani, Ujjwal Nikam, Tokheho Sema, Dr. Satish Kumar, Dr.Mylswamy Annadurai, Prof. Dipankar Chatterji, Prof.(Dr.) Ganapati Dadasaheb Yadav, Prof. Veena Tandon, Onkar Nath Srivastava, Sunita Krishnan, Ajoy Kumar Dutta, M. Pandit Dasa, P. P. Gopinathan Nair, Smt. Madeleine Herman de Blic, Srinivasan Damal Kandalai, Sudhakar Olwe, Dr. T.V. Narayana, Arunachalam Murugantham, Deepika Kumari, Sushil Doshi, Mahesh Sharma, Saurabh Srivastava, Dilip Sanghvi, Dr. Keki Hormusji Gharda, Prakash Chand Surana (Posthumous), Saeed Jaffrey (Posthumous), Michael Postel, Salman Amin Sal Khan, Hui Lan Zhang, Predrag K. Nikic, Dr.Sundar Aditya Menon, Ajaypal Singh Banga