The Padma Awards 2011, India’s second top civilian awards have been announced. Noted among the awardees for 2011 are Brajesh Mishra, Wipro chief Azim Premji, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Kapila Vatsyayan and Akkineni Nageswara Rao. There are a total of 128 awardees this year out of which 13 are Padma Vibhushans, 31 are Padma Bhushans and 84 received Padma Shri awards. A significant number of 31 women candidates are entered in the Padma Awardees list this year. The awards are declared on the occassion of Republic Day on January 26. Though there are expectations on the award of Bharat Ratna, India’s top civilian award may goes to cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, it was not announced to any person for the third consecutive year. Pt. Bhimsen Joshi was the last person to receive Bharat Ratna in 2008. All the awards will be conferred by President Pratibha Patil at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan at the end of the year. Following are noted Padma Awardees in various categories:
1. Padma Vibhushan: Homai Vyarawalla (Photographer), P K Iyer (atomic energy scientist ), A R Kidwai (educationist ), Vijay Kelkar (energy expert ), O N V Kurup (Literature), Sitakant Mahapatra (literature), Akkineni Nageswara Rao (Cinema), Palle Rama Rao (Scientist) and the late L C Jain (Gandhian economist) .
2. Padma Bhushans: Shashi Kapoor (Bollywood actor), Waheeda Rahman (cinema), Khayyam (music director ), Satyadev Dubey (Theatre), Krishen Khanna and Arpita Singh (Eminent Painters), K. Anji Reddy, GVK Reddy (Industry), SP Balasubrahmaniam (Cinema), ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar (Industry), Infosys’ Kris Gopalakrishnan (Industry), Ranbaxy’s Analjit Singh (Industry), NIIT’s Rajendra Singh Pawar (Industry), and HCL’s Ajai Chowdhary (Industry).
3. Padma Shris: Jayaram Subramanian (Cinema), Tabu (Cinema), Kajol (Cinema), Irrfan Khan (Cinema) Girish Kasaravalli (Cinema), Sunayana Hazariklal (kathak), K K Pavithran (mohiniattam) and M K Saroja (bharatnatyam), Ajoy Chakraborty (classical music) and S R Janakiraman (Carnatic vocal music), Usha Utthup (Cinema), Sushil Kumar (Sports), V V S Laxman (Sports), and Gagan Narang (Sports).
Padma Awardees from Andhra Pradesh:
1. Padma Vibhushan: Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Palle Rama Rao
2. Padma Bhushan: K. Anji Reddy, GVK Reddy, SP Balasubramaniam (from Tamilnadu category)
3. Padma Sri: VVS Lakshman (Cricket), Gagan Narang (Shooting) , EA Siddique (Engineering- Agriculture), Gajam Goverdhan (Handicrafts), Srirama Chandrudu (Sanskrit Literature), Koneru Ramakrishna Rao (Education – Literature), Wahida Rahman (Cinema).