New Delhi, Jan. 25: The Padma awards announced Monday, on the eve of the nation’s 61st Republic Day, are dominated by prominent figures in the arts, who account for 37 of the total 130 individuals to be honoured by President Pratibha Patil.

Eminent theatre personalities Ebrahim Alkazi and Zohra Sehgal have been conferred the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour. This award also went to Nobel Prize-winning scientist of Indian origin Venkatraman Ramakrish-nan, Dr Prathap C. Reddy of Apollo Hospitals and former RBI governor Y.V. Reddy.

Bollywood actor-director Aamir Khan, recently much in the news for 3 Idiots; music maestro A.R. Rahman, Ilaiyaraaja, who composed the hit numbers of Amitabh Bachchan’s recent Paa; Akbar Padamsee and Mallika Sarabhai are among 14 from the world of arts to get the Padma Bhushan. Oscar-winning film sound editor Resul Pookutty (of Slumdog Millionaire) and filmstars Rekha and Saif Ali Khan are among 20 from the arts world to get the Padma Shri, which went to a total of 81 awardees. There are 17 women among the Padma award recipients. No one was conferred the Bharat Ratna. Cricketer Virendra Sehwag, hockey national Ignace Tirkey, Formula One driver Narain Kartikeyan, badminton ace Saina Nehwal, boxer Vijender Singh and Sachin Tendulkar’s "guru" Ramakant Achrekar got the Padma Shri in the sports category.

NRI hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal, neurosurgeon Satya Paul Agarwal and top cardiac surgeon Ramakant Panda, who had performed "beating heart" surgery on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year, have been chosen for the Padma Bhushan. Former CBI director D.R. Karthikeyan, who headed the Special Investigation Team that probed the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, and environmental activist Ranjit Bhargava are among the Padma Shri recipients. Besides Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, three scientists got the Padma Bhushan and six the Padma Shri.

A senior government official, when asked why there was such a large number of people from the arts category this year, said: "There were approximately 1,200 applications... There is no hard and fast rule and a decision is taken on the merit of each application." The selection committee for this year’s Padma awards, chaired by Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar, included playwright Girish Karnad, former HRD secretary Kapila Vatsayan (who is founder-director of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts) and former CII chief mentor Tarun Das.

Former Cabinet Secretary B.K. Chaturvedi, now a Planning Commission member, has got the Padma Bhushan along with former Jammu and Kashmir chief secretary Moosa Raza and former Goa University vice-chancellor P.R. Dubhashi for civil service. Another Planning Commission member, Dr Abhijit Sen, and S.K. Bandyopadhyay also got the award for public affairs, along with Newsweek International editor and well-known columnist Fareed Zakaria for journalism, and Prof. Tan Chung and Prof. A.J. Paulraj, both based in the United States, for literature and education and science and engineering respectively.

Nuclear scientist Bikash Chandra Sinha, former director of the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata, and US-based Arogyaswami Joseph Paulraj, who made a significant contribution to the science of wireless communication, were conferred the Padma Bhushan, along with Delhi-based mathematician Jagdish Chandra Kapur. Prof. Palpu Pushpangadan, plant scientist and former director of the National Botanical Research Institute, is among six scientists to get the Padma Shri.

V.P. Dimri, director of the National Geophysical Research Institute, Vijaylakshmi Ravindranath, former director, National Brain Research Institute, and Pucadyil Ittoop John, a senior scientist holding the Meghnad Saha Chair at the Institute of Plasma Research, also got the Padma Shri, as did US-based Ponisseril Somasundaran and Karnataka-based M.R. Satyanarayana Rao.

In the trade and industry category, Venu Srinivasan of the TVS Group, Alluri Venkata Satyanarayana Raju, B. Raveendran Pillai, Deepak Puri, Irshad Mirza and Kapil Mohan have been selected for the Padma Shri. It was also awarded to Anu Aga, Ayekpam Tomba Meetei, J.R. Ganga Ramani, Deep Joshi, Baba Sewa Singh, Sudha Kaul and Kranti Shah for social work. Former Union minister Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil were awarded the Padma Bhushan for social work, while Ghulam Mohammad Mir and Arun Sarma got the Padma Shri for public service and the literature and education category.

Scientist Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, who shared the 2009 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, said in a statement: "I am honored and touched that the country of my birth has chosen to recognise our work with this award." President Pratibha Patil approved a total of 130 awards — six Padma Vibhushan, 43 Padma Bhushan and 81 Padma Shri. Thirteen of these recipients are foreigners, NRIs or PIOs.

Age Correspondent