Aishwarya, Akshay among Padma award receivers

NEW DELHI: Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission Anil Kakodkar, a key architect of the Indo-US nuclear deal, Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and actor Akshay Kumar were among the 62 personalities who received the Padma awards on Tuesday.
Famous playback singer of yesteryear Shamshad Begum and director of the central board of Reserve Bank of India Ashok Shekhar Ganguly are among prominent persons to get the award from President Pratibha Patil on Monday at a special function in the Ashoka Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Patil conferred the Padma Vibhushan, the country's second highest civilian award, to Kakodkar for his contributions in the field of nuclear science and technology during the function attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a host of other dignitaries. Kakodkar was actively involved in the Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation agreement.
Ashok Shekhar Ganguly, a director of the central board of Reserve Bank of India, was also awarded with the Padma Vibhushan on the occasion. Ganguly is also a member of Prime Minister's council on trade and industry and a member of National knowledge Commission.
The other Padma Vibhushan award winners are Chandrika Prasad Srivastava, secretary general of International Maritime Organisation, UN, eminent civil servant Govind Narain and noted bio-medical scientist Prof Jasbir Singh Bajaj.
Former superior general of the Missionaries of Charity Sister Nirmala, who was selected for Padma Vibhushan award, was not present at the function.
Padma Bhushan recipients include L&T chairman Anilkumar Manibhai Naik, management guru C K Prahalad, eminent Tamil writer D Jayakanthan, Ayurvedic physician Vaidya Devendra Triguna, leading film personality G Krishna, member of Northeastern Council Inderjit Kaur Barthakur and Planning Commission member Kirit Shantilal Parikh.
Litterateur Kunwar Narain, academician Minoru Hara, playback singer Shamshad Begum, INTACH chairman S K Mishra, danseuse V P Dhananjayan and his wife Shanta Dhananjayan and well-known sculptor and architect Vaidyanathan Ganapati Sthapati were also conferred with Padma Bhushan awards.
Similarly, the Padma Shri awards were received by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Akshay Kumar, Ashok Kumar Grover, Abhaya Chhajlani, Ashok Kumar Gupta, B R Setty, Bansilal Rathi, Birendranath Datta, C K Menon, Devinder Singh Rana, G Vijayaraghavan and Geeta Kapoor.
The Padma Shri award winners who were present at the function include Geshe Ngawang Sampen, Govind Ram Nirmalkar, Goriparthi Narasimha Raju Yadav, Gurumayum Gourakishor Sharma, Hashmat Ullah Khan, Iravatham Mahadevan, Jalees Ahmed Khan Tareen, John Ralston Marr and K Viswanthan.
The Padma Shri list also includes K P Udayabhanu, Kalamndalam Gopi, Kanneganti Brahmanandam, Kiran Seth, Kumar Sanu, Laxman Mane, Mattannoor Sankarankutty Marar, Niranjan Goswami, Bhai Nirmal Singh Khals, Norden Tshering Bhutian and Panchapakesa Jayaraman.
Penaz Doli Masani, Prakash Narain Dubey, Pratapaditya Pal, R K Krishna Kumar, Ram Kishore Chhipa, Shaik Khader Noordeen, Sashi Despande, Shyamlha Pappu, Sunil Kanti Roy, Sunny Varkey, Suresh Dutta, Surinder Mehta and Uash Gulati also received Padma Shri awards.