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President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday conferred the Padma awards on several eminent personalities including industrialist Adi Godrej, Olympic medal winners Yogeshwar Dutt and Vijay Kumar, actor Nana Patekar and designer Ritu Kumar.
Professor Roddam Narasimha, a internationally renowned expert on fluid dynamics and famous painter Sayed Haider Raza were given the prestigious Padma Vibhushan at an impressive ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
The Padma Bhushan awardees who were honoured on Saturday were: Professor Satya Nadham Atluri, aerospace expert; Dr Maharaj Kishan Bhan, leading biomedical researcher; industrialist Adi Godrej and classical singer Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan.
Dr Nandkishore Shamrao Laud, pioneer in joint replacement surgery; Marathi poet and editor Mangesh Padgaonkar; renowned scientists Dr A S Pillai and Dr B N Suresh; and Bharatnatyam dancer Dr Saroja Vaidyanathan were also given the Padma Bhushan.
Social satirist Jaspal Singh Bhatti and actor Rajesh Khanna were given the Padma Bhushan posthmously. Khanna's wife Dimple Kapadia received the award on his behalf.
Boxer M C Mary Kom, who won the bronze medal at the London Olympics last year and Jogesh Chandra Pati, Professor of Physics, both Padma Bhushan winners, could not make it to the programme.
Among the Padma Shri awardees were actor Nana Patekar and film-maker Ramesh Sippy; Yogeshwar Dutt, who won a bronze in wrestling at the London Olympics and shooter Vijay Kumar, who won the silver in the same Olympics; as well as designer Ritu Kumar.