Padmas for Mary Kom, Dravid, Rajesh Khanna

Noted physicist Yash Pal and space scientist Roddam Narasimha were named for the Padma Vibhushan awards Friday, with 106 other Padma awardees, including actors Sharmila Tagore, Sridevi, the late Rajesh Khanna, late satirist Jaspal Bhatti and Olympic medallists Mary Kom, Yogeshwar Dutt and Vijay Kumar. Sculptor Raghunath Mohapatra and painter S Haider Raza were among the four chosen for the second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan. Nobody was named for the Bharat Ratna for this year too. Cricketer Rahul Dravid made the 24-strong list for the Padma Bhushan. Joining him was Godrej group chairman Adi Godrej and missile scientist A Sivathanu Pillai. The awards will be presented in March and April. Kom, silver medallist at the London Games, is the only Olympian in the Padma Bhushan list. India's other two Olympic heroes, wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt and shooter Vijay Kumar, were named for the Padma Shri, along with
actors Sridevi and Nana Patekar, filmmaker Ramesh Sippy and fashion designer Ritu Kumar. Rajendra Achyut Badwe, director of Mumbai's Tata Memorial Centre, oncologist Pramod Kumar Jhulka of AIIMS, homeopath Vishnu Kumar Gupta and sculptor Rajendra Tikku were named for the Padma Shri. Four more sportspersons were named for the Padma Shri — mountaineer Premlata Agrawal, para athlete Hosanagara Nagarajegowda Girisha, boxer Ngangom Dingko Singh and rower Bajrang Lal Takhar. Source: Hindustan Times,