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April      Last updated: April  15,  5:00 p.m.

From Our Correspondent

At the glittering Darbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, on March 30, President Shri K.R. Narayanan honoured 70 eminent persons from the fields of science, education and culture with Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri awards.

BJP leader Sikandar Bakht, Chief Election Commissioner M.S. Gill, Odissi maestro Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra, novelist R.K. Narayan ISRO chairman K. Kasturirangan, flautist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, vocalist Pandit Jasraj Motiram, economists Prof K.N. Raj and Jagdish N. Bhagwati, civil servant Dr K.B. Lall, Adminsitrative Staff College chairman M. Narasimhan and former planning commission member Tirlok Singh were among those honoured with the Padma Vibhushan.

The oldest awardee was 123-year-old Swami Kalyan Dev, a sage from Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh. Born in 1876, the Swami was honoured for fighting social evils. He walked up to the dais with the help of two disciples to receive the Padma Bhushan from the President. After receiving the award, he blessed Shri Narayanan and later, while returning to his seat, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who stood up in respect.

Industrialist Ratan Naval Tata, Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, film star Rajni Kant, Kuchipudi exponents Radha and Raja Reddy, environmentalist Anil K. Agarwal and H.Y. Sharada Prasad, who had served three prime ministers as information advisor, were among the 20 Padma Bhushan awardees.

The president stepped down from the podium to honour Begum Kudsia Aizaz Rasul, 91, who was awarded the Padma Bhushan for her role in maintaining communal harmony and social work.

Among the 42 noted scholars, authors, artists, social workers and scientists who were awarded Padma Shri, are music composer A.R. Rahman, adman Alyque Padamsee, painter Anjolie Ela Menon, filmstar Hema Malini, vocalist Shuba Mudgal, film director Shekhar Kapur, mountaineer Santosh Yadav and film producer Ramanand Sagar.

Shri Satya N. 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. Janaky A. Nahappan, a captain in Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army was honoured for lead role in Malaysia's struggle for independence.

Indologist Grigory L. Bondarevsky, president of SOS children's village J.N. Kaul and noted Bengali author and former wife of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, Nabaneeta Deb Sen, were awarded Padma Shri.

Padma Bhushan was also conferred on educationist D.V. Heggade, cardiologist Habans S. Wasir, forensic scientist P. Chandra Sekharan, electronics expert P.V. Indiresan, CSIR director-general R.A. Mashelkar, scientist Ram N. Agarwal, sarod maestro Sharan Rani and scientific adviser to defence minister V.K. Aatre.

Other Padma Shri awardees are Abdur R. Rahi, Aloysius P. Fernandez, Dilip Devidas Bhawalkar, Dina Nath Malhotra, Enuga Sreenivasulu Reddy, Gopalasamy Govindarajan, Gurudev S. Khush, Gurumukh S. Sainani, Hanumappasudarshan, I. Sathyamurthy, Jagan N. Kaul, Prof K. Subbarao, Kalika P. Saxena, Kanhai Chitrakar, Kirpal S. Chugh, Mahendra Bhandari, Mandan Mishra, Mathew S. Kalarickal, N.R. Narayana Murthy, P.S. Chawngthyu, Parasu Ram Mishra, Patricia Mukhim, Piloo N. Jungalawalla, Pradeep K. Dave, Rabindra N. Upadhyay, Vaidya S.C. Chaturvedi, Vijay P. Bhatkar and Vipin Buckshey.

The five award winners who could not attend the function were writer R.K. Narayan, economist Jagdish Bhagwati, Infosys chief N.R. Narayana Murthy, Abdur Rehman Rahi and Dr Gurdev Singh.

Among those who attended the ceremony were Vice- President Krishna Kant, Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani and members of the Union Cabinet.