Seven from State Get Padma Awards

New Delhi, Jan 26 (DHNS): As many as seven eminent people from Karnataka, including cricketer Rahul Dravid and aerospace scientist from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advance Scientific Research  in Bangalore Roddam Narasimha, have been honoured with Padma awards under different disciplines.

Dravid, who scored close to 24,000 international runs before announcing his retirement early last year, was chosen for the second highest civilian honour of Padma Bhushan while Narasimha has been honoured with Padma Vibhushan.

Rahul Dravid, Roddam Narasimha

Vijayraghavan, Ajay Sood

B Jayashree, B N Suresh, H N Girisha

Professor and director of National Centre for Biological Sciences Krishnaswamy Vijayraghavan and Ajay K Sood, professor of Physics department of Indian Institute of Science, have been awarded Padma Shri. Theatre personality B Jayashree also has been honoured with Padma Shri.

Aerospace scientist B N Suresh, known for his contribution to Space Capsule Recovery Experiments, has been honoured with Padma Bhushan.

Yesteryear superstar the late Rajesh Khanna has been posthumously honoured with Padma Bhushan. Film personality Sharmila Tagore has been chosen for the Padma Bhushan, and Sridevi for Padma Shri.

This year too, nobody was named for Bharat Ratna. The last awardee was the late Bhimsen Joshi in 2008.

Physicist Yash Pal has been chosen for Padma Vibhushan.

Sculptor Raghunath Mohapatra and painter S Haider Raza have been chosen for Padma Vibhushan.

The 108 Padma awardees also include actors Nana Patekar and Malayalam star Madhu of Chemmeen fame and Olympians Mary Kom, Yogeshwar Dutt and Vijay Kumar.

In all, four personalities were awarded Padma Vibhushan, 24 Padma Bhushan and 80 Padma Shri.

Great honour, says Dravid; birthday gift for Girisha

It was a memorable day for the State’s sporting fraternity with two of their proud possessions bagging the Padma honours.

Former Indian cricket captain Rahul Dravid was named for the Padma Bhushan while silver-medal winning Paralympian Hosanagara Nagarajegowda Girisha was included in the list of Padma Shree awardees on Friday evening.

"It is a great honour and I am truly humbled to receive the Padma Bhushan,” remarked Dravid, who announced his retirement last year. “I have been really lucky that I have been recognised at various stages in my career for which I am really grateful. My family, friends, various team-mates and the fans of this great game have been my support and motivation.”

Girisha couldn’t have asked for a better birthday gift. The high jumper, who finished second at the London Paralympics in September last, was anxiously waiting for the announcement of the award on Friday when the news was broken to him by media men.

“This is the best birthday gift I have ever got,” gushed Girisha, who turns 24 on Saturday. “I can’t tell you in words how happy I am at this moment. Coming from a rural background, and to win such a prestigious award, I never thought of all this even in the wildest of my dreams. Today, I am as happy as I was after the winning the silver medal in London,” remarked Girisha.

Girisha won the silver medal in the F 42 high jump event with a leap of 1.74 metres.

The award, Girisha said, will not only serve as a motivation for him to seek more glory but will also inspire other differently-abled athletes to work harder to achieve international recognition. “I am absolutely overwhelmed. I thank everyone for recognising my achievement and I promise that I would strive harder to improve on my performance,” stressed Girisha whose next big assignment is the World Championship in France in July.

Besides Dravid, Olympic bronze medal winning boxer Mary Kom was named for the Padma Bhushan.
“I am surprised that I got this award because my name was not there at all. It is a big honour for me to be considered for this award and I feel truly humbled. It is no doubt a proud moment for me,” Mary Kom said.

“Although boxing is going through difficult times, personally this has been a great achievement and I feel elated that all my efforts have got the recognition,” she added.

Meanwhile, it was double delight for shooter Vijay Kumar as was named for the Athi Vishisht Seva Medal in the Republic Day honours’ list besides being included in the Padma Shri list.

Vijay Kumar, who is a subedar in the Army, had won silver in men’s 25M Rapid Fire Pistol event at the London Olympic Games. had won silver in men’s 25M Rapid Fire Pistol event at the London Olympic Games.

Wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, boxer Dingko Singh and rower Bajrang Lal Takhar were the other sportspersons chosen for the Padma Shri Awards.