President honours 50 personalities from Padma Awards today

President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on April 04 conferred the prestigious Padma Awards to 50 eminent personalities including late cartoonist Mario Miranda, actors Dharmendra and Shabana Azmi, top mathematician M S Raghunathan, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner N Vittal and industry leader B Muthuraman at an investiture ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi.

The country's second highest civilian honour after the Bharat Ratna--the Padma Vibhushan was given to eminent cartoonist Mario de Miranda posthumously. His son Rahul Miranda recieved the award.

The third highest civilian honour 'Padma Bhushan' awards were delivered to Film personalities Dharmendra Deol and Shabana Azami, Industrialists B Muthuraman, Civil servant Mata Prasad and N Vittal, eminent Neurologist Professor N H Wadia, famous mathmatician Dr M S Raghunathan, Historian Dr Jose Pereira, prominent Jurist Dr P Chandrashekara Rao, leading cultural and literary theorist and author Prof Homi K Bhabha.

As much as 38 personalities received forth highest civilian honour 'Padma Shree' awards including Industrialist Dr Swati Piramil, Former Captain of Indian Hockey Team Zafar Iqbal, famous archer Limba Ram Ahari and Social worker Rita Devi.

88-year-old eminent painter K G Subramanyan (Padma Vibushan), Satya Narayan Goenka and Jose Pereira (Padma Bhushan) were not present at the ceremony.

A total 109 Padma Awards were announced on the eve of the Republic Day this year in which 5 were Padma Vibhushan, 27 Padma Bhushan and 77 Padma Shri Awards were announced.

Earlier last month in a ceremony, four Padma Vibhushan awards were given away to renowned Assamese singer-composer Dr Bhupendra Kumar Hazarika posthumously along with former Uttar Pradesh governor and Intelligence Bureau chief T V Rajeswar and internationally acclaimed orthopedic surgeon Dr K H Sancheti.

Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, and several Union Ministers and Members of Parliament were present today at Durbar hall of President house on this occasion.

--With Agencies Input --