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Aishwarya Rai received Padma
Shri
NEW DELHI: Chairman of the
Atomic Energy Commission Anil Kakodkar, a key architect of the Indo-US
Nuclear deal, Bollywood actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Akshay
Kumar were among the 62 personalities who received the Padma awards on
Tuesday.
Aishwarya Rai’s daddy-in-law
Amitabh Bachchan seems to be riding high since the day dearest daughter-in-law
was bestowed with the honourable ‘Padma Shri’ award by the Government of
India.
With Ash’s award, the count
of the ‘Padma’ awards given to the Bachchan family for their contribution
to Indian arts has gone up to five. Prior to this, Amitabh’s father, Shri
Harivanshrai Bachchan was the first member of the Bachchan clan to receive
the ‘Padma Bhushan’. After that Big B garnered two Padma awards for himself
– the ‘Padma Shri’ and the ‘Padma Bhushan’. Jaya Bachchan too joined the
big league after taking home a ‘Padma Shri’. |
Speaking about his daughter-in-law’s
award, Amitabh Bachchan in his recent blog posting said, “How do I feel?
How would anyone feel when (their) daughter wins accolade and distinction!”
Bachchan further added by
saying that “the entire family was extremely happy at Aishwarya’s grand
achievement”.
Well, with Aishwarya completing
a full circle with this award, guess it’s time for Abhishek to pull up
his socks, after all he is a Bachchan too, right?
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan today
said she was "absolutely honoured" at being conferred the Padmashri and
that she was grateful for it.
"I am very thankful for the
privilege. I am humbled by it. I thank the high officers of our country
because this has been accorded to me by them and our fellow people," the
actress told reporters at the inauguration of the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani
Hospital and
Medical Research Institute
in suburban Andheri here.
"I hope to be able to live
up to the promise of it. I am very grateful and will continue doing my
best," the actress added.
Famous playback singer of
yesteryear Shamshad Begum and director of the Central Board of Reserve
Bank of India Ashok Shekhar Ganguly are among prominent persons to get
the award from President Pratibha Patil on Tuesday at a special function
in the Ashoka Hall of Rashtapati Bhavan.
Patil conferred Padma Vibhushan,
the country's second highest civilian award, to Kakodakar for his contributions
in the field of nuclear science and technology during the function attended
by Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmoahn Singh and a host
of other dignitaries. Kakodakar was actively involved in the Indo-US civilian
nuclear cooperation agreement.
Ashok Shekhar Ganguly, a
director of the Central Board of Reserve Bank of India, was also awarded
with Padma Vibhushan on the occasion. Ganguly is also a member Prime Minister's
council on trade and industry and a member of National knowledge Commission.
Besides Dr. Kakodkar, the
Padma Vibhushan was presented to Dr. Ashok Shekhar Ganguly, Director on
the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India, Dr. Chandrika Prasad Srivastava,
Secretary-General Emeritus of the International Maritime Organisation,
U.N., Govind Narain, an eminent civil servant of the ICS era, and Prof.
Jasbir Singh Bajaj, who heads the Academic Council of the National Academy
of Medical Sciences. Sister Mary Nirmala Joshi, former Superior-General
of the Missionaries of Charities, also chosen for the Padma Vibhushan award,
was not present.
The Padma Bhushan recipients
included L&T chairman Anilkumar Manibhai Naik, management guru C.K.
Prahalad, eminent Tamil writer D. Jayakanthan, Ayurvedic physician Vaidya
Devendra Triguna, leading personality from Telugu film industry G. Krishna,
member of the Northeastern Council Inderjit Kaur Barthakur and Planning
Commission member Kirit Shantilal Parikh.
Litterateur and poet Kunwar
Narain, academician Minoru Hara, playback singer of yesteryears Shamshad
Begum, INTACH chairman S.K. Mishra, Bharatanatyam artistes V.P. Dhananjayan
and his wife Shanta Dhananjayan and sculptor and architect Vaidyanathan
Ganapati Sthapati were also conferred the Padma Bhushan.
Ms. Patil conferred the Padma
Shri awards on Bollywood actors Aishwarya Rai Bachhan and Akshay Kumar,
Hindi playback singer Kumar Sanu, eye surgeon Ashok Kumar Grover, Chairman,
Board of Editors of Nai Dunia daily, Abhay Chhajlani, surgeon Ashok Kumar
Gupta and Ghazal singer Penaz Masani.
Other recipients of the Padma
Shri included B.R. Shetty, Bansilal Rathi, Prof. Birendranath Datta, C.K.
Menon, Devinder Singh Rana, G. Vijayaraghavan, Geeta Kapur, Geshe Ngawang
Sampen, Govind Ram Nirmalkar, Goriparthi Narasimha Raju Yadav, Gurumayum
Gourakishor Sharma, Hashmat Ullah Khan, Iravatham Mahadevan, Jalees Ahmed
Khan Tareen, John Ralston Marr, K. Viswanathan, K.P. Udayabhanu, Kalamandalam
Gopi, Kanneganti Brahmanandam, Kiran Seth, Laxman Mane, Mattannoor Sankarankutty
Marar, Niranjan Goswami, Bhai Nirmal Singh Khalsa, Norden Tshering Bhutian
and Panchapakesa Jayaraman.
Prakash Narain Dubey, Pratapaditya
Pal, R.K. Krishna Kumar, Ram Kishore Chhipa, Shaik Khader Noordeen, Shashi
Despande, Shyamlha Pappu, Sunil Kanti Roy, Sunny Varkey, Suresh Dutta,
Surinder Mehta and Yash Gulati also received the Padma Shri. |