Padma Awards 2015

  Padma Awards - one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The Awards are given in various disciplines/ fields of activities, viz.- art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc. ‘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. The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.

These awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March/ April every year. This year the President of India has approved conferment of Padma Awards to 104 persons as per the list below. The list comprises of 9 Padma Vibhushan, 20 Padma Bhushan and 75 Padma Shri Awardees.  17 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 17 persons from the category of foreigners, NRIs, PIOs and 4 Posthumous awardees.

 

Padma Vibhushan

S. No.	Name of the Awardee	Discipline	State/Domicile
1.	Shri L. K. Advani	Public Affairs	Gujarat
2.	Shri Amitabh Bachchan	Art	Maharashtra
3.	Shri Prakash Singh Badal	Public Affairs	Punjab
4.	Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade	Social Work	Karnataka
5.	Shri Mohammad Yusuf Khan alias Dilip Kumar	Art	Maharashtra
6.	Shri Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Swami Rambhadracharya	Others	Uttar Pradesh
7.	Prof. Malur Ramaswamy Srinivasan	Science and Engineering	Tamil Nadu
8.	Shri Kottayan K. Venugopal	Public Affairs	Delhi
9.	Shri Karim Al Hussaini Aga Khan (Foreigner)	Trade and Industry	France/UK

Padma Bhushan

1.	Shri Jahnu Barua	Art	Assam
2.	Dr. Vijay Bhatkar	Science and Engineering	Maharashtra
3.	Shri Swapan Dasgupta	Literature and Education	Delhi
4.	Swami Satyamitranand Giri	Others	Uttar Pradesh
5.	Shri N. Gopalaswami	Civil Service	Tamil Nadu
6.	Dr. Subhash C. Kashyap	Public Affairs	Delhi
7.	Dr. (Pandit) Gokulotsavji Maharaj	Art	Madhya Pradesh
8.	Dr. Ambrish  Mithal	Medicine	Delhi
9.	Smt. Sudha Ragunathan	Art	Tamil Nadu
10.	Shri Harish Salve	Public Affairs	Delhi
11.	Dr. Ashok Seth	Medicine	Delhi
12.	Shri Rajat Sharma	Literature and Education	Delhi
13.	Shri Satpal	Sports	Delhi
14.	Shri Shivakumara Swami	Others	Karnataka
15.	Dr. Kharag Singh Valdiya	Science and Engineering	Karnataka
16.	Prof. Manjul Bhargava (NRI/PIO)	Science and Engineering	USA
17.	Shri David Frawley (Vamadeva) (Foreigner)	Others	USA
18.	Shri Bill Gates (Foreigner)	Social Work	USA
19.	Ms. Melinda Gates  (Foreigner)	Social Work	USA
20.	Shri Saichiro Misumi (Foreigner)	Others	Japan

Padma Shri

1.	Dr. Manjula Anagani	Medicine	Telangana
2.	Shri S. Arunan	Science and Engineering	Karnataka
3.	Ms. Kanyakumari Avasarala	Art	Tamil Nadu
4.	Dr. Bettina Sharada Baumer	Literature and Education	Jammu and Kashmir
5.	Shri Naresh Bedi	Art	Delhi
6.	Shri Ashok Bhagat	Social Work	Jharkhand
7.	Shri Sanjay Leela Bhansali	Art	Maharashtra
8.	Dr. Lakshmi Nandan Bora	Literature and Education	Assam
9.	Dr. Gyan  Chaturvedi	Literature and Education	Madhya Pradesh
10.	Prof. (Dr.) Yogesh Kumar Chawla	Medicine	Chandigarh
11.	Smt. Jayakumari Chikkala	Medicine	Delhi
12.	Shri Bibek Debroy	Literature and Education	Delhi
13.	Dr. Sarungbam Bimola  Kumari Devi	Medicine	Manipur
14.	Dr. Ashok Gulati	Public Affairs	Delhi
15.	Dr.  Randeep  Guleria	Medicine	Delhi
16.	Dr. K. P. Haridas	Medicine	Kerala
17.	Shri Rahul Jain	Art	Delhi
18.	Shri Ravindra Jain	Art	Maharashtra
19.	Dr. Sunil Jogi	Literature and Education	Delhi
20.	Shri Prasoon Joshi	Art	Maharashtra
21.	Dr. Prafulla Kar	Art	Odisha
22.	Ms. Saba Anjum	Sports	Chhattisgarh
23.	Smt. Ushakiran Khan	Literature and Education	Bihar
24.	Dr. Rajesh Kotecha	Medicine	Rajasthan
25.	Prof. Alka Kriplani	Medicine	Delhi
26.	Dr. Harsh Kumar	Medicine	Delhi
27.	Shri Narayana Purushothama Mallaya	Literature and Education	Kerala
28.	Shri Lambert Mascarenhas	Literature and Education	Goa
29.	Dr. (Mrs.) Janak Palta McGilligan	Social Work	Madhya Pradesh
30.	Shri Veerendra Raj Mehta	Social Work	Delhi
31.	Shri Tarak Mehta	Art	Gujarat
32.	Shri Neil Herbert Nongkynrih	Art	Meghalaya
33.	Shri Chewang Norphel	Others	Jammu and Kashmir
34.	Shri T. V. Mohandas Pai	Trade and Industry	Karnataka
35.	Dr.Tejas Patel	Medicine	Gujarat
36.	Shri Jadav Molai Peyang	Others	Assam
37.	Smt. Bimla Poddar	Other	Uttar Pradesh
38.	Dr. N. Prabhakar	Science and Engineering	Delhi
39.	Dr. Prahalada	Science and Engineering	Maharashtra
40.	Dr. Narendra Prasad	Medicine	Bihar
41.	Shri Ram Bahadur Rai	Literature and Education	Delhi
42.	Ms. Mithali Raj	Sports	Telangana
43.	Shri P. V.  Rajaraman	Civil Service	Tamil Nadu
44.	Prof.  J. S. Rajput	Literature and Education	Uttar Pradesh
45.	Shri Kota Srinivasa Rao	Art	Andhra Pradesh
46.	Prof. Bimal Roy	Literature and Education	West Bengal
47.	Shri Shekhar Sen	Art	Maharashtra
48.	Shri Gunvant Shah	Literature and Education	Gujarat
49.	Shri Brahmdev Sharma (Bhaiji)	Literature and Education	Delhi
50.	Shri Manu Sharma	Literature and Education	Uttar Pradesh
51.	Prof. Yog Raj Sharma	Medicine	Delhi
52.	Shri Vasant Shastri	Science and Engineering	Karnataka
53.	Shri S. K. Shivkumar	Science and Engineering	Karnataka
54.	Ms. P. V. Sindhu	Sports	Telangana
55.	Shri Sardara Singh	Sports	Haryana
56.	Ms. Arunima Sinha	Sports	Uttar Pradesh
57.	Shri Mahesh Raj Soni	Art	Rajasthan
58.	Dr.Nikhil Tandon	Medicine	Delhi
59.	Shri H. Thegtse Rinpoche	Social Work	Arunachal Pradesh
60.	Dr.Hargovind Laxmishanker Trivedi	Medicine	Gujarat
61.	Shri Huang Baosheng (Foreigner)	Others	China
62.	Prof. Jacques Blamont (Foreigner)	Science and Engineering	France
63.	Late Shri Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin (Posthumous)	Others	Maharashtra
64.	Shri Jean-Claude Carriere (Foreigner)	Literature and Education	France
65.	Dr. Nandrajan “Raj” Chetty (NRI/PIO)	Trade and Industry	USA
66.	Shri George L. Hart (Foreigner)	Others	USA
67.	Jagat Guru Amrta Suryananda Maha Raja (NRI/PIO)	Others	Portugal
68.	Late Shri Meetha Lal Mehta (Posthumous)	Social Work	Rajasthan
69.	Ms. Tripti Mukherjee (NRI/PIO)	Art	USA
70.	Dr. Dattatreyudu Nori (NRI/PIO)	Medicine	USA
71.	Dr. Raghu Rama Pillarisetti (NRI/PIO)	Medicine	USA
72.	Dr. Saumitra Rawat (NRI/PIO)	Medicine	UK
73.	Prof. Annette Schmiedchen (Foreigner)	Literature and Education	Germany
74.	Late Shri Pran Kumar Sharma alias Pran (Posthumous)	Art	Delhi
75.	Late Shri R. Vasudevan (Posthumous)	Civil Service	Tamil Nadu

Current Affairs 2014 at a glance

❖ Narendra Damodardas Modi was sworn in as the 15th Prime Minister of India on May 26, 2014.
The swearing in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan was attended by the heads/ representatives of eight SAARC nations. Along with Modi 44 Ministers also took oath.

❖ The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) became the first party in 30 years to win a majority on its
own in the Lok Sabha. In the 16th Lok Sabha elections it won 282 seats. Indian National Congress won 44 seats.

❖ Anandiben Patel became the first woman Chief Minister of Gujarat in May 2014. Sikkim Democratic Front leader Pawan Chamling was sworn in as the CM of Sikkim for a record fifth consecutive term. Biju Janata Dal president Naveen Patnaik was sworn in as the CM of Odisha for the fourth consecutive term. Congress leader Nabam Tuki became the CM of Arunachal Pradesh for the second consecutive time.

❖ Jitan Ram Manjhi succeeded Nitish Kumar as the new CM of Bihar. TR Zeliang succeeded Neiphiu Rio as the CM of Nagaland.

❖ 13 - year-old Malavath Purna became the youngest female climber to scale the Mount Everest on May 25, 2014.

❖ Dalia Grybauskaite was re-elected as the President of Lithuania in May 2014. She is the first female President of Lithuania.

❖ Salvador Sanchez Ceren took office as the President of El Salvador on June 1, 2014. Luis Guillermo Solis became the President of Costa Rica on May 8, 2014. Juan Carlos Varela assumed office as the President of Panama on July 1, 2014.

❖ Peter Mutharika assumed office as the President of Malawi on May 31, 2014.

❖ Major General Kristin Lund of Norway is the first-ever woman to serve as the head of a UN peacekeeping operation.

❖ Nripendra Mishra was appointed as Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is
the former Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

❖ Former United States Secretary of the State Hillary Rodham Clinton launched her book 'Hard Choices'.

❖ 'RuPay', India's own card payment network, was launched by the President Pranab Mukherjee. It was developed by the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI). The RuPay card is accepted at all ATMs.

❖ Justice B. S. Chauhan was appointed the Chairman of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.

❖ Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) has been included in the second schedule to the RBI Act, 1934.
Now BMB becomes eligible for loans from RBI on bank rate.

❖ RBI made it mandatory for banks to install talking ATMs with Braille keypads from July 2014
onwards. It is for the benefit of persons with disabilities.

❖ P.J. Nayak Committee appointed by the RBI recommended the reduction of government stake in public sector banks to less than 50 percent.

❖ Japan won the Thomas Cup men's badminton title for the first time. Japan defeated Malaysia in the final in New Delhi in May 2014. China won the Uber Cup women's badminton title for the
13th time by defeating Japan in the final in New Delhi. India won a bronze medal for the first time in Uber Cup.

❖ Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won the Indian Premier League- 7 title by defeating Kings XI Punjab at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on June 1, 2014. It is KKR's second IPL trophy.

❖ Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K. Chandrasekar Rao was sworn in as the first Chief Minister of Telangana, the 29th State of India, on June 2, 2014. Telugu Desham Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu took over as the first Chief Minister of bifurcated Andhra Pradesh on June 8, 2014.

❖ The Supreme Court appointed Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee to probe the 2013 IPL spot fixing allegations.

❖ Manuel Santos won the Presidential elections of Colombia for the second time in June 2014.

❖ Reuven Rivlin succeeded Shimon Peres as the new President of Israel in June 2014.

❖ Former army chief Abdel Fattah el Sisi was sworn in as the President of Egypt in June 2014.

❖ Mukul Rohatgi was appointed the Attorney General of India in June 2014. Ranjit Kumar is the new Solicitor General.

❖ N. Srinivasan is the first Chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

❖ Petro Poroshenko was sworn in as the President of Ukraine.

❖ Syrian President Bashar al-Assad won a third term in office in June 2014.

❖ Sumitra Mahajan became the Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha in June 2014. She represents Indore Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh.

❖ Former Intelligence Bureau chief Ajit Doval was appointed the National Security Adviser (NSA). He is the first police officer to be decorated with Kirti Chakra, a gallantry award given during peacetime.

❖ Kedarnath Singh was chosen for the prestigious Jnanpith award for 2013. He is the 10th Hindi writer to receive the honor and is the 49th recipient of Jnanpith award.

❖ The 2013 Moortidevi award was given to Malayalam writer C. Radhakrishnan. He is a scientist
turned writer.

❖ France announced to honor Shah Rukh Khan with Officer of the Legion of Honour for his contribution to cinema.

❖ Former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland is the first recipient of the Tang Prize
for sustainable development. She is the former Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO).

❖ India-born plant scientist Sanjay Rajaram was chosen for the World Food Prize for 2014. He is a renowned wheat scientist.

❖ Irish author Eimear McBride won the 2014 Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction for her debut
novel 'A Girl is a Half-formed Thing'. This prize was earlier known as Orange Prize.

❖ The autobiography of Hindi actor Dilip Kumar 'The Substance and The Shadow' was launched.

❖ The supersonic cruise missile BrahMos was test-fired. It is an Indo-Russian missile with a range of 290 km.

❖ Okavango Delta in Botswana became the 1000th site to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site List.

❖ Rani-ki-Vav, an 11th century stepwell in the Patan area of Gujarat and the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) in Himachal Pradesh were accorded the UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

❖ The government has accepted the report of Arvind Mayaram Committee on rationalizing definitions of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs).

❖ Salman Rushdie, the India born UK author was named the winner of 2014 Pen Pinter Prize.

❖ Saina Nehwal won the Australian Open Super Series badminton title defeating Spain's Carolina Marin.

❖ Magnus Carlsen of Norway won the World Rapid Chess Championship and also the World Blitz
Chess Championship, both in Dubai in June 2014.

❖ Australia retained the men's Hockey World Cup title by outplaying Netherlands in the final in
The Hague, Netherlands in June 2014. Netherlands defeated Australia to win the women's title.

❖ Rafael Nadal of Spain clinched the 2014 French Open tennis men's singles title beating Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the final. It is Nadal's 9th French open title. Maria Sharapova of Russia won
her second French Open women's singles title by defeating Simona Halep of Romania.

❖ Two Indian Americans Sriram Hathwar and Ansun Sujoe became the co-champions of the Scripps National Spelling Bee contest held in USA.

GK & CURRENT AFFAIRS