President Pranab Mukherjee yesterday conferred Padma awards on 56 eminent personalities, including industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani (posthumously), Bollywood actor Anupam Kher and former Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai, at a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan here.
Mukherjee bestowed the Padma Vibhushan on Ambani, economist Avinash Kamalakar Dixit, former Jammu and Kashmir governor Jagmohan, dancer Yamini Krishnamurthi and spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
Padma Bhushan awardees included architect Hafeez Sorabe Contractor, educationist and journalist Barjinder Singh Hamdard, actor Anupam Kher, industrialist Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry, badminton star Saina Nehwal, scientist Alla Ventaka Rama Rao and gastroenterologist Duvvur Nageshwar Reddy.
The 43 Padma Shri awardees included Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist Mylswamy Annadurai, filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar, actor Ajay Devgn, archer Deepika Kumari and celebrated chef Mohammed Imtiaz Qureshi.
Kokilaben, the widow of founder of the Reliance empire Dhirubhai Ambani thanked the government and Mukherjee for honouring him with the country’s second-highest civilian award.
“Dhirubhai lived a life of simplicity and humility, creating world class assets for the nation, and great wealth for the country and his fellow countrymen, on a scale never witnessed before,” Kokilaben, who received the award on behalf of her late husband, said in a statement.
“In his own words, I take this occasion to pray that thousands more Dhirubhai Ambanis are born to our great country, to accelerate our social and economic development for the lasting benefit of our over 1.3bn fellow Indians,” she added.