New Delhi, April 5
Cricketer Rahul Dravid, actresses Sharmila Tagore and Sridevi, and DRDO chief VK Saraswat were among 54 honoured with Padma awards by President Pranab Mukherjee today. Sculptor Raghunath Mohapatra and researcher Prof Yash Pal received Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian award.

Saraswat, Tagore, film producer D Ramanaidu and Dravid were presented the third highest Padma Bhushan, while Sridevi got Padma Shri from the President at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan’s Darbar Hall.

Theatre personality B Jayashree, boxer Ngangom Dingko Singh of the Indian Navy, photographer Pablo Bartholomew and Subedar Major Bajrang Lal Takhar also received Padma Shri.

This year’s list of honours was announced on January 25 and another ceremony is expected later for presentation of the awards to the remaining recipients. The 10 recipients of Padma Bhushan included Hemendra Singh Panwar, Shivajirao Girdhar Patil, Kanak Yatindra Rele, Prof Ashoke Sen, Prof Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Ramamurthy Thyagarajan.

Prof Yash Pal, scientist	Dingko Singh, boxer	B Jayashree, thespian	Surender Sharma, satirist

The 42 people honoured with Padma Shri included Avnita Abbi, Sudarshan Kumar Aggarwal, Mohammad Sharfe Alam, Gajam Anjaiah, Rajendra Achyut Badwe, Memendra Prasad Barooah, GC D Bharti, Ravindra Singh Bisht, Avinash Chander, Taraprasad Das, Trichur Viswanathan Devarajan, Sanjay Govind Dhande, Saroj Chooramani Gopal, Noboru Karashima from Japan, Ram Krishan (posthumous), Salik Lakhnawi (posthumous) and Manju Bharat Ram (posthumous).

S Lakshminarayana ‘Bapu’, Vandana Luthra, SKM Maeilanandhan, Kailash Chandra Meher, Neelima Chandrashekhar Mishra, P Madhavan Nair, Sankar Kumar Pal, Brahmdeo Ram Pandit, Rajshree Pathy, Deepak Bhaskar Phatak, Mudundi Ramakrishna Raju, C Venkata S Ram, R Nageshwar Rao, Surender Sharma, Jaymala Jayram Shiledar, Rama Kant Shukla, Ajay Kumar Sood, Pt Suresh Talwalkar, Rajendar Kumar Tiku and Akhtarul Wasey also received Padma Shri. — PTI