Ex-CJI Khehar, dancer Shobana Chandrakumar among 68 personalities conferred with Padma awards
New Delhi, May 27 (PTI): Former Chief Justice of India Jagdish Singh Khehar, dancer Shobana Chandrakumar, actor Anant Nag and Vice Chancellor of prestigious King George's Medical University Soniya Nityanand were among 68 eminent personalities conferred with the coveted Padma awards by President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday.
A total of 139 distinguished persons were named for the country's civilian awards -- Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri -- on the eve of the 76th Republic Day on January 25.
The President gave awards to 68 chosen ones on Tuesday in the second civil investiture ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan in the presence of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, among others.
During the first investiture ceremony on April 28, President Murmu had conferred Padma awards to 71 personalities.
In the ceremony in Ganatantra Mandap in Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday, President Murmu conferred the country's second highest civilian honour Padma Vibhushan to Justice (retd) Khehar for public affairs while the award for late Kathak dancer Kumudini Rajnikant Lakhia and late legendary folk singer Sharda Sinha were received by Lakhia's grandson and Sinha's son.
The President also handed over nine Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, during the ceremony to noted personalities which included dancer and actor Shobana Chandrakumar, businessman Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti, archaeologist Kailash Nath Dikshit, dancer Jatin Goswami, actor Anant Nag, and Sadhvi Ritambhara.
The award for economist Bibek Debroy and former Maharashtra CM and Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi was received by Debroy's wife and Joshi's son.
Leading immunologist and KGMU VC Nityanand, footballer Inivalappil Mani Vijayan, singer Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, actor Ashok Laxman Saraf, mask maker Reba Kanta Mahanta, and musician Ricky Gyan Kej were among the recipients for Padma Shri.
Noted theatre artist and acting coach Barry John, folk musician and noted parai player Velu Aasan, businessman Sajjan Bhajanka, Dr Neerja Bhatla, scientist Ajay V Bhatt, writer Sant Ram Deswal, spiritual leader Acharya Jonas Mejetti, and Farooq Ahmad Mir were among the other Padma Shri awardees.
The awards are given in various disciplines and fields such as art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports and civil service, among others.
Padma Vibhushan is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; Padma Bhushan for distinguished service of high order, and Padma Shri for distinguished service in any field.
Ever since the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014, it has started honouring the “unsung heroes” by honouring them with the Padma awards, thus transforming Padma awards into "People's Padma". This year, the Padma awards were given to 30 "unsung heroes".
Instituted in 1954, these awards are announced on the eve of the Republic Day every year.
All persons without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex are eligible for these awards.
Concerted efforts are being made to identify talented persons whose excellence and achievements really deserve to be recognised from amongst women, weaker sections of the society, SCs & STs, divyang persons and who are doing selfless service to the society.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
