Veteran Malayalam filmmaker and Dadasaheb Phalke award winner Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Infosys CEO Nadan Nilekani and Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande were among 42 personalities from various fields who were conferred with the prestigious Padma awards in New Delhi on Monday evening.
Adoor, social activist Krishnaswamy Rao Sahib and Deshpande were bestowed with the Padma Vibushan.
Eminent cardiologist Upendra Kaul, aviator Vijaypat Sighania (Padma Bhushan,) leading banker Deepak Parekh of HDFC, (Padmashri), Tata Consultancy Services chief Ramadorai (Padma Bhushan), acclaimed filmmaker Sai Paranjape (Padma Bhushan) and veteran actor A K Hangal (Padma Vibhushan) were also honoured.
Tennis player Sania Mirza, who was chosen for Padmashri, was among eight awardees who were not present to receive the honour.
President A P J Abdul Kalam presented the awards at a function at the Ashoka Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi also attended the function.
Besides three Padma Vibushan, 16 personalities were conferred with Padma Bhushan and 23 others were presented with Padmashri awards.
Other Padma Bushan awardees are Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan (Art) Dinesh Nandini Dalmia (Literature and Education), Ganga Prasad Birla (Social Work), Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan (Art), Jaiveer Agarwal (Medicine), Prof Kewal Kishan Talwar (Medicine), Madhav Gadgil (Science and Engineering), Porayath Leela (posthumous), Ramakanta Rath and V Shanta. The Padmashri awardees were Aribam Shyam Sharma, Bahadur Singh, Devappagowda Chinnaiah, Gayatri Sankaran, Harbhajan Singh Rissam, Harsh Kumar Gupta, J N Chaudhry, Kanaka Srinivasan, Kavungal Chatunni Panicker, Mant Chungneijang Mary Kom, Melhupra Vero, P S Bedi, Rajendra Kumar Saboo, Ustad Rashid Khan, Sanjeev Bagai, Shobana Chandrakumar, Guru Shyama Charan Patil, Sucheta Dalal, Sudha Murthy, Sister Sudha Varghese, Suwalal Chhaganmal Bafna, Upendra Kaul, and Yashodhar Mathpal.