Pejawar Swamiji, Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, George Fernandes awarded Padma Vibhushan posthumously
New Delhi, Jan 25: Former union ministers Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and George Fernandes, Olympian boxer Mary Kom and former Mauritius prime minister Anerood Jugnauth were among seven prominent personalities awarded the Padma Vibhushan on Saturday, the Home Ministry announced.
Former union ministers Arun Jaitley
Famous classical bhajan singer from Varanasi Channulal Mishra and Vishwesha Theertha Swamiji Sri Pejavara Adhokshaja Matha Udupi, who passed away recently, have also been given the highest Padma award--Padma Vibhushan.
Former defence minister Manohar Parrikar, industrialists Anand Mahindra and Venu Shrinivasan, Olympian badminton player P V Sindhu, former Nagaland chief minister S C Jamir and Jammu and Kashmir politician Muzaffar Hussain Baig have been awarded the Padma Bhushan, a home ministry statement said.
The awards are announced on the eve of Republic Day.
Jaitley, Swaraj, Fernandes, Parrikar and Vishwesha Teertha Swami have been awarded posthumously, the officials said.
Former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj
File photo of George Fernandes.
This year the President has approved conferment of 141 Padma awards including four duo cases (in a duo case, the award is counted as one), the statement said.
"Thirty four of the awardees are women and the list also includes 18 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 12 posthumous awardees," it said.
Padma Awards - one of the highest civilian Awards--are conferred in three categories--Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.
Sixteen people have been given the Padma Bhushan and 118 the Padma Shri.
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.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Padma awardees, saying they include extraordinary people.
"Congratulations to all those who have been conferred the Padma Awards," he tweeted.
From Bollywood, filmmakers Karan Johar and Ekta Kapoor and actor Kangana Ranaut have been awarded Padma Shri.
Singers Suresh Wadkar and Adnan Sami, as well as veteran TV actor Sarita Joshi have been conferred with the fourth highest civilian award of the country.
Six sports persons including cricketer Zaheer Khan, current Indian women's hockey captain Rani Rampal, former Indian men's hockey player M P Ganesh, shooter Jitu Rai, former Indian women's football team captain Oinam Bembem Devi and archer Tarundeep Rai have been given Padma Shri.
Naukri.com founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani, industrialist Bharat Goenka, technocrat Nemnath Jain have been conferred the Padma Shri.
The award has also been given to Lucknow-based historian and journalist Yogesh Praveen and Assam-based historian Jogendra Nath Phukan have been awarded Padma Shri
There are 21 'unsung' heroes who were given Padma Shri this year including Jagdish Lal Ahuja, who serves free food to patients and attendants outside PGI hospital in Chandigarh; Mohammed Sharif from Faizabad, who has performed last rites of over 25,000 unclaimed bodies' and veterinarian from Assam Kushal Konwar Sarma who is known for treating elephants.
Seventy-two-year-old Tulasi Gowda from Karnataka, who earned the sobriquet "encyclopedia of forests" because of her vast knowledge of diverse plants species in spite of lacking formal education, has also been given the award, it said.
Sathyanarayan Mundayoor, known as Uncle Moosa of Arunachal Pradesh, who has been promoting education and reading culture in remote areas of Northeastern states for last four decades; Abdul Jabbar aka 'voice of Bhopal' (posthumously), known for fighting for the cause of victims and survivor of 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy; and Usha Chaumar, a Dalit social worker working in the field of sanitation in Rajasthan, have also been given the award.
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Power tariffs under BESCOM to rise from May 1
Bengaluru (PTI): Power bills for consumers under the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) will go up from May 1, following an order issued by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on Friday.
The hike comes after KERC allowed the BESCOM to recover a revenue deficit of Rs 2,068 crore incurred in 2024-25, from the consumers.
As a result, for every unit of electricity consumed in 2024-25, the customers will be charged an additional 56 paise, it said.
"BESCOM shall calculate, for each of the active consumers of FY2024-25 the amount to be recovered based on their actual energy consumption during FY2024-25. Such amount shall be recovered during FY 2026-27 in equal monthly instalments, to be called as 'FY25 True up Charges', commencing from the first meter reading date falling on or after 1 May 2026 and concluding with the reading date ending on 30 April 2027," the order said.
"It is further ordered that BESCOM shall maintain a separate head of account, allocated for the purpose, to record the adjustment of the said amount to ensure full recovery of the deficit," it added.
Similarly Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) has also recorded a revenue deficit of Rs 121.71 crore and can collect an additional 15 paisa per unit for consumption in 2024-25, official sources said.
