President gives away Padma awards

new delhi: eminent hindustani vocalist gangubai hangal and tabla maestro pandit kishan maharaj were presented the prestigious civilian honour padma vibhushan while 42 other eminent personalities from various walks of life were given the padma bhushan and padma shri by president k r narayanan here on wednesday. tabla maestro zakir hussain, who got the padma bhushan, and filmmaker mani ratnam, who was given the padma shri, took their awards amid thundering applause at a glittering ceremony in the ashoka hall of the rashtrapathi bhavan where 11 persons were given the padma bhushan and 31 the padma shri.cricketer chandu borde, us congressman frank pallone, eminent jurist k k venugopal, filmmaker ismail merchant and writer habib tanvir were among the padma bhushan awardees while carnatic musician mani krishnaswami and sexologist prakash kothari were given the padma shri awards. vice president krishan kant, prime minister atal bihari vajpayee, union ministers l k advani and jaswant singh and a galaxy of other dignitaries were present at the brief ceremony. former foreign secretary m k rasgotra, leading businessman pravinchandra gandhi, academic and chairman of the tamil virtual university v c kulandaiswamy, director of warwick manufacturing group, uk, s k bhattacharya and russian academician guri ivanovich marchuk were the other padma bhushan awardees. us congressman gary ackerman, who has also been honoured with the padma bhushan, was not present. among the performing artistes given the padma shri were renowned sarangi player ustad abdul latif khan, manipuri dancer darshana jhaveri, bharatnatyam dancer pushpa bhuyan, ghatam artiste t h vinayakram and sri lankan musician w d amaradeva. eminent surgeon pradeep kumar chowbey, radiologist harsh mahajan, ophthalmologist vijay kumar dada, orthopaedic surgeon vikram marwah, neurosurgeon kamaljit singh paul and gastrologist duvvur nageshwar reddy were also presented the honour besides scientists h s kamath, i v subba rao, b n suresh and padmanabhan balaram. the other awardees are modern marathi writer madhu mangesh karnik, journalist t k rao and greek diplomat dimitris c velissaropoulos, educationists gyan chand jain and munirathna anandakrishnan, earthquake engineer anand swarup arya and engineering professor ashok jhunjhunwala, social activists viresh pratap chaudhury, sivananda rajaram, satish chandra rai, prema narendra purao and kiran martin, animal welfare activist norma alvares. distinguished photo journalist rajan devadas, who was also selected for the padma shri, was not present. as many as 45 eminent personalities were given the padma awards last week.