War veteran doctor, snake catchers, 'Rasna' creator among Padma awardees

Many of the awardees are unsung heroes who have been silently working for the betterment of society and people, officials said

A war veteran doctor, who has been treating underprivileged people for five decades, two expert snake catchers and a 67-year old woman, who has woven the Bhagavad Gita on silk in Sanskrit, have figured in the list of this year's Padma awardees.

Many of the awardees are unsung heroes who have been silently working for the betterment of society and people, and whom the Narendra Modi government has been honouring ever since it came to power in 2014, officials said.

The list of 106 distinguished personalities -- six Padma Vibhushan, nine Padma Bhushan and 91 Padma Shri awardees -- include an agricultural scientist who is famous as the 'Millet Man of India', a doctor from Andaman and Nicobar Islands who saved the Jarawa tribe from extinction and a man who created India's one of the favourite drinks 'Rasna'.

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S L Bhyrappa, a widely-acclaimed Kannada author whose work has been translated into over 14 languages, has been named for Padma Bhushan.

Vani Jairam, a legendary singer from Tamil Nadu with over 20,000 songs in 18 languages to her credit; Swami Chinna Jeeyar, a vedic scholar and spiritual leader from Karnataka and Kapil Kapoor, a Delhi-based professor who is widely known for his books on Indian grammatical theories and models, were also honoured with Padma Bhushan.

Sukama Acharya, an Arya Samaj spiritual leader from Haryana who has been providing vedic education to girls; Munishwar Chanddawar, a retired Army doctor and 1971 Bangladesh war veteran, who has been treating underprivileged people in Jabalpur for the past 50 years; and Vadivel Gopal and Masi Sadaiyan, the two Irula expert snake catchers from Tamil Nadu who were recognised for disseminating their skills and training across the world, were given Padma Shri.

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Hemoprava Chutia, an eminent weaver from Assam who is known for weaving Bhagavad Gita on silk in Sanskrit; Subhadra Devi, an 87 years old Madhubani Papier Mache artist from Bihar who has been promoting the art globally for over the past six decades; and Karnataka's Khadar Valli Dudekula, who is famous as the 'Millet Man of India' and known for having revived five types of disappearing millets, were given Padma Shri.

Ratan Chandra Kar, a retired government doctor from Andaman and Nicobar Islands who brought the Jarawa tribes back from the verge of extinction during the Measles epidemic of 1999; Gujarat's Areez Khambatta (Posthumous) who created India's one of the favourite drinks 'Rasna' and Hem Chandra Goswami, who has been preserving Assam's centuries-old ceremonial mask-making culture were named for the Padma Shri.

Pritikana Goswami, a Kantha embroidery artist from West Bengal who has been training and empowering rural women in the art for over five decades; Radha Charan Gupta, an 87-year-old veteran Mathematician from Uttar Pradesh who is credited for his research on the history of mathematics in India especially Trigonometry were selected for the Padma Shri.

Ahmed Hussain and Mohd Hussain, a renowned Ghazal singer duo from Jaipur who has been performing and teaching for over five decades; Dilshad Hussain, a master craftsman of Brass Nakashi work from Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad and Bikram Bahadur Jamatia, a social worker from Tripura who has dedicated his life for the protection and upliftment of Jamatia community, were selected for the Padma Shri.

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Ramkuiwangbe Jene, a Naga social worker who has been preserving and promoting the indigenous Heraka religion and culture for five decades, Parshuram Komaji Khune, an actor from Gadchiroli in Maharashtra who has been using theatre as a means of rehabilitating misguided youth in Naxal affected areas; Maguni Charan Kuanr, an 85-year-old Rod Puppeteer from Keonjhar in Odisha and Anand Kumar from Bihar who has been providing free coaching to underprivileged children to crack national exams, were also selected for the award.

Domar Singh Kunvar, a Natya Nacha artiste from Chhattisgarh who has been performing in 13 dialects; Gajanan Jagannath Mane, an ex-serviceman social worker from Maharashtra who has been working for the rehabilitation of Leprosy affected people for decades and Gujarat's Mahendra Pal a pioneer of veterinary mycology who is known for his five decades long research on the role of fungi in various diseases affecting animals and Uma Shankar Pandey, a water conservationist from Uttar Pradesh's Banda who devised the concept of Jakhni model village to fight water scarcity and make villages water surplus were selected for the Padma Shri.

Nalini Parthasarathi, a Puducherry-based pediatrician who is especially renowned for her work on Haemophilia; Hanumantha Rao Pasupuleti from Telangana who has been working for the rehabilitation of Divyang children for the past four decades; V P Appukuttan Poduval, a-99-year old freedom fighter from Kerala who has been working for upliftment of underprivileged communities named for Padma Shri.

Bakshi Ram from Haryana who is known for his contributions for the development of new Sugarcane varieties and Cheruvayal K Raman, a tribal rice farmer who is credited with preserving over 50 indigenous varieties of rice in Wayanad in Kerala were also selected for the Padma Shri.