B R Shetty Among Padma Shree Awardees
New Delhi, Jan 25: Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty (Padma Shri) B R Shetty, has been choosen for prestigious Padmashree national award.
Shetty is the founder partner and CEO of diversified business group NMC. The entity is mainly into healthcare business and runs the NMC Hospitals in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and the New Medical Centre in Sharjah.
NMC is also into various businesses including financial services and trading in pharmaceuticals, gold and diamond jewellery, advertising, real estate and information technology, among others.
Shetty was conferred Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award during Pravasi Bharatiya Divas for 2007 in recognition of his outstanding contribution towards the betterment of the large NRI community.
Total 91 personalities have been awarded Padmashree award for the year 2009.
The UPA government today awarded Padma Vibhushan to Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar for his contribution in the filed of nuclear energy.
Kakodkar is one among the ten persons to get the award which includes names of environmentalist Sunderlal Bahugna, Sister Nirmala of Missionaries of Charity and ISRO chief G Madhvan Nair.
Shooter Abhinav Bindra was today awarded Padma Bhushan for fetching India's first individual Olympic gold medal while four other sportspersons, including cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, got Padma Shri for their achievements in their respective fields.
Besides Abhinav and Dhoni, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, World Billiards Champion Pankaj Advani and former hockey player Balbir Singh Khullar were among Padma awardees.
The 26-year-old Abhinav, who won the gold in the men's 10-meter air rifle event at the Beijing Games, became the first-ever to achieve the feat in 108-year history of India in Olympics.
Abhinav, also the winner of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna -- the country's highest sporting honour way back in 2002, is among 30 others from all walks of life to win the Padma Bhushan.
Dhoni and Harbhajan were honoured for their exploits at the highest level in the sport of cricket.
Advani has won the world title in Billiards for three times besides being former snooker champion.
Dhoni and Advani have also won the Khel Ratna in 2008 and 2006 respectively.
Former hockey player Balbir Singh Khullar were among the 93 eminent personalities named for Padma Shri.
Others among the 93 persons chosen for Padma Shri were singer Udit narayan Bollywood actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Akshay Kumar, world billiards champion Pankaj Advani and R K Krishna Kumar of the Taj group of Hotels and veteran broadcaster Ameen Sayani .
R K Krishna Kumar (Padma Shri) Krishna Kumar joined TAS (Tata Administrative Services) in 1963 and was initially posted in Tata Industries, after which he moved to other Tata Group companies. He joined Tata-Finlay and from then on, became involved with the Group's tea and coffee businesses. He became Tata Tea MD in 1991.
Currently, he is a director on the Tata Sons board, chairman of Tata Coffee and Asian Coffee, and vice chairman of Tata Tea and of Indian Hotels. He is director in several enterprises, including Rallis India, Watawala Plantations, Tata Tetley and Tata Tea Incorporated (US).
Arunmugam Sakthivel (Padma Shri) A Sakthivel, President of Tirupur Exporters Association is also All India President of Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), Ministry of Commerce. Recently, he was also re-elected as Chairman of FIEO (Southern Region).
Probably the first person from the textiles export business to get this honour, he also holds the position of Managing Director for Poppys Knitwear Private Ltd, one of the leading knitwear exporters with an annual group turnover in excess of 60 million dollar and employing well over 8,000 people.
Five industrialists selected for this year's Padma awards, including one for the country's second highest civilian award, Padma Vibhushan, come from businesses ranging from engineering, technology and hospitality to textiles.
Ashok S Ganguly (Padma Vibhushan) He is a member of the PM's Council on Trade and Industry as well as Investment Commission, India-USA CEO Council and the National Knowledge Commission to the Prime Minister.
Besides, he is the Chairman of FirstSource Solutions Ltd and ABP Private Ltd (Ananda Bazar Patrika Group) and has been a Director on the Central Board of Reserve Bank of India, since November 2000. He also serves as a non-executive director of Wipro, Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Knowledge Park and Tata AIG Life Insurance Co Ltd and a Director on the Advisory Board of Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt Ltd and Hemogenomics Private Ltd.
He is a former member of the Board of British Airways Plc (1996-2005) and Unilever Plc/NV (1990-1997).
Anil Manibhai Naik (Padma Bhushan) A M Naik is the Chairman and Managing Director of Larsen & Toubro, one of the largest conglomerates in India. He joined L&T in 1965 as a junior engineer and soon became the youngest manager in Larsen & Toubro history. Son of a teacher, he took over as CEO and MD in April 1999 and was appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director in April 1999.
He is also an Honorary Consul General for Denmark, Senior member of the Confederation of Indian Industry, member of the Board of Trade, Ministry of Commerce, and on the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.