Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Jan 26: The union government has announced that 112 achievers from the country including five from Karnataka have been chosen for Padma awards. Four have won Padma Bhushan, 14 have been selected for Padma Vibhushan, with the remaining 94 having been selected for Padma Shri awards.

Five from Karnataka, Saalumarada Timmakka (social service), Rohini Godbole (physics professor) , Sharada Srinivasan (physics professor), Pandit Rajeev Taranath (Sarod player) and Prabhu Deva (dance director), have been chosen for Padma Shri awards.

Saalumarada Thimmakka: Thimmakka (108), who does not have her own offspring, planted trees on the roadside and looked them after like her own children. Born to Chikkarangayya and Vijayamma couple from Gubbi taluk in Tumakuru district, she worked during her childhood as a cooliein stone lquarries. As she could not conceive, to forget this frustration, she chose to plant trees. She planted trees on state highway 94 between Kudoor and Hulikal, accounting for thousands of trees at her own expense.

Rohini Godbole (67) serves as professor in the high energy physics centre of Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru. She has studied high energy protons in detail. Being the diviional head of Indian Academy of Sciences, she encouraged women to contribute more and more in the fields of science and technology. She has presented over 150 research papers. She had completed her BSc degree from Pune University, MSc from Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai and PhD from New York State University.

Sharada Srinivasan (53) is an archaeologist par excellence. She works as professor in archaeology in the National Institute of Advanced Studies in the city. She has greatly contributed to the field of scientific studies of ancient arts. Being a Bharat Natyam artiste, she has also conducted study on the subject of science of metals in the statue of Nataraja. She had won Dr Kalpana Chawla state award for women scientists in 2011. She got postgraduate degree from London University after completing BTech from IIT Bombay in 1987. She got her PhD for her studies on the bronze statue of south India in 1998.

Pandit Rajeev Taranath (86), happens to be the only Sarod artiste from south India to have won global recognition. He is counted among the best musicians of the world. Besides being a musical scholar, he also is a gifted music director, English teacher, translator, critic etc. He has composed music for films too. Kannada movies, Samskara and Pallavi, Malayalam films, Kanchan Seetha and Kaavu, and the film, Paper Boat made both in Kannada and English, are some of the films with him as the music director.

Prabhu Deva (45) is from Mugoor in T Narasipura taluk in Mysuru district. Prabhu Deva, has his own imprint in the fields of Tamil, Telugu and Hindi cine fields. Although he has some Kannada movies also to his credit, his main achievements are in the fields of Tamil and Telugu movies. Dance direction has remained his forte. He began his career with Tamil movie, Mauna Ragam, in 1986. He is also fondly known as Michael Jackson of India.