Late cartoonist Mario Miranda, actors Dharmendra and Shabana Azmi, top mathematician M.S. Raghunathan, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner N. Vittal and industry leader B. Muthuraman were among those conferred the Padma awards by President Pratibha Patil here on Wednesday.
Miranda's son Rahul received the Padma Vibhushan from Patil at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan which was attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and a host of other dignitaries.
A loud round of applause reverbated in the majestic Durbar Hall when filmstar Dharmendra stepped forward to receive the Padma Bhushan award from the President.
Shutterbugs had a field day as actor-turned-activist Shabana Azmi received the Padma Bhushan.
Among the Padma Bhushan awardees were literary theorist Homi K. Bhabha, violinist M.S. Gopalakrishnan, Tata Steel Vice Chairman B. Muthuraman, former bureaucrat Mata Prasad, mathematician Raghunathan, jurist P. Chandrasekhara Rao, Vittal, neurologist Noshir Hormusji Wadia and former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yong-Boon Yeo. 88-year-old eminent painter K.G. Subramanyan (Padma Vibushan), Satya Narayan Goenka and Jose Pereira (Padma Bhushan) were not present at the ceremony.
Among the Padma Shri awardees were industrialist Swati Piramal, eminent diabetologist V. Mohan, former hockey Olympian Zaffar Iqbal, archer Limba Ram and cricket commentator of yesteryear Ravi Chaturvedi.