VVS Laxman, Sushil Kumar amongst 128 Padma awardees

NEW DELHI - Indian batsman VVS Laxman, shooter Gagan Narang, wrestler Sushil Kumar and movie stars Tabu, Kajol and Irrfan Khan and singer Usha Uthup are among 84 personalities awarded with the Padma Shri.

This year President Pratibha Devisingh Patil has approved 128 awards including 13 Padma Vibhushans, 31 Padma Bhushans and 84 Padma Shri awards. There are 31 women in the list.

Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan (Art), Homai Vyarawalla (Art), A Nageshwara Rao (Art), Parasaran Kesava Iyengar ( Pulic Affairs), Dr. Akhlaq-ur-Rehman Kidwai (Public Affairs ), Vijay Kelkar (Public Affairs) Montek Singh Ahluwalia (Public Affairs) Palle Rama Rao ( Science and Engineering), Azim Premji (Trade and Industry ), Brajesh Mishra (Civil Services) are among the 13 awarded with the Padma Vibushan.

Satyadev Dubey (Theatre), Khayyam (Music), Shashi Kapoor (Cinema), Kristen Khanna (Painting), Madavur Vasudevan Nair (Kathakali), Waheeda Rehman (Cinema), Arpita Singh (Painting), S. Gopalakrishnan ( Trade and Industry), Chanda Kochhar (Trade and Industry ), Shyam Saran (Civil Services) are among the 31 awarded with the Padma Bhushan.

Neelam Mansingh Chowdhry (Theatre), Tabu (Cinema), Kajol (Cinema) Jivya Soma Mase (Warli Painting), M.K. Saroja (Bharatnatyam), Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty ( Music-Indian Classical Vocal), Mamraj Agrawal (Social work), Anant Darshan Shankar (Public Affairs ), M. Annamalai (Science and Engineering ) are among the 84 awarded with the Padma Shree.

The awards will be conferred by the President of India at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan sometime around March or April. (ANI)