NEW DELHI, Jan 25 � Noted scientist RA Mashelkar and yoga guru BKS Iyengar were chosen for this year�s Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour, while noted classical singer from Assam Parveen Sultana, now settled in Mumbai, cine star Kamala Haasan, author Ruskin Bond and late former Chief Justice JS Verma were selected for Padma Bhushan Award, reports PTI.
National badminton coach P Gopichand, tennis player Leander Paes, writer Anita Desai and Tamil lyricist and writer Vairamuthu were also picked for Padma Bhushan, while cricketer Yuvraj Singh and cine stars Paresh Rawal and Vidya Balan were selected for Padma Shri.
In all, the government announced 127 Padma awards which had no Bharat Ratna this time with cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and noted scientist CNR Rao having been named for this top civilian honour only two months ago.
The list included two Padma Vibhushans, 24 Padma Bhushans and 101 Padma Shri awardees. They included 27 women and seven foreigners, which included NRIs and PIOs. Three awardees got the honour in the posthumous category and they included NA Dabholkar, an anti-superstition campaigner who was shot dead in Pune last year.
The Padma Shri awardees also included Union Minister Sharad Pawar�s brother Pratap Govindrao Pawar. The 71-year-old Mashelkar, a former Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, had played a crucial role in evolving science and technology policies in post-liberalised India.
