Padma awardees declared on Republic Day eve

An icon of Hindu-Muslim unity, a poet who translated the Bhagwad Gita to Urdu and Saudi Arabian woman who is the face of Yoga revolution in the country are among the recipients of Padma Awards announced on the eve of Republic Day.

Music maestro Illaiyaraja from Tamil Nadu was among the three to be awarded Padma Vibhushan—the highest Padma Award while cricket star Mahendra Singh Dhoni got the Padma Bhushan.

Billiards and Snooker player Pankaj Advani was the other sports personality that got the Padma Bhushan.

Nouf Marwaai, 38 year old from Saudi Arabia has taught Yoga to 3000 students since 2009. She was born with an auto immune disease and fought it by practicing Yoga and through Ayurveda was awarded the Padma Shri

Sufi Bhajan singer from Karnataka Ibrahim Sutar also got the Padma Shri along with an urdu poet from Lucknow who was awarded posthumously.

In all 85 people were awarded the awards with 73 getting Padma Shri, nine Padma Bhushan and thre Padma Vibhushan.

Sixteen of the winners are international personalities including some Indians who have been living abroad.

Ghulam Mustafa Khan was the other musician to get the Padma Vibhushan while Parameswaran Parameswaran got it for literature and education.

Most of the winners of the Padma Shri were unsung heroes with many personalities being little known who served the poor, set up free schools and popularised tribal arts globally.

Lakshmikutty, a tribal woman from Kerala, who prepares herbal medicine from memory and help thousands of people especially in snake and insect bite cases, is among the awardees.

Maharashtra's Murlikant Petkar, India's first para- Olympic gold medalist, who lost his arm in 1965 Indo-Pak war, is another winner of the Padma Shri.

Arvind Gupta, an IIT Kanpur alumnus who inspired generations of students to learn science from thrash, has also been honoured with Padma Shri.

Gupta visited 3,000 schools in four decades, made 6,200 short films on toy-making in 18 languages and also hosted popular TV show Tarang in 1980s.

Internationally-acclaimed Gond artist Bhajju Shyam has also been awarded the Padma Shri.

Shyam is famous for depicting Europe through Gond paintings, a tribal style of painting of Madhya Pradesh. Born in a poor tribal family, he worked as a night guard and electrician to support family before becoming a professional artist.

His 'The London Jungle Book' sold 30,000 copies and it was published in five foreign languages.

West Bengal's Sudhanshu Biswas, a 99-year-old freedom fighter who serves poor, runs school and orphanages and set up free school for poor, is also among the winners.

Kerala's medical messiah to terminally ill, M R Rajagopal, has also been honoured with Padma Shri.

Rajagopal has specialised in pain relief care for neo natal cases.