Moser Baer’s Deepak Puri gets Padma Shri

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The central government announced on Monday the names of Padma Awardees, the country’s highest civilian awards for 2010. The awardees also include Moser Baer’s chairman and managing director Deepak Puri, who will be conferred with Padma Shri.

Indian born scientist and Nobel laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan will get Padma Vibhushan in recognition of his exceptional and distinguished service in the field of science.

Padma Bhushan awardees also include Prof. Arogyaswami Joseph Paulraj, Prof. Bikash Chandra Sinha,  Jagdish Chandra Kapur, Prof. M.R. Satyanarayana Rao in the field of Science and Engineering, whereas those who won Padma Shri in Science and Engineering are, Prof. (Dr.) Palpu Pushpangadan,  Prof. Ponisseril Somasundaran,  Prof. Pucadyil Ittoop John, Dr. Vijay Prasad Dimri and Dr.(Ms.) Vijaylakshmi Ravindranath.

Venu Srinivasan, chairman TVS Motor Company and also the president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will get Padma Shri in the trade and industry category.

The awards are conferred by the President of India at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan sometime around March/ April.  This year the President has approved 130 awards including 13 in the category of Foreigners/ NRIs/ PIOs. These comprise 6 Padma Vibhushan, 43 Padma Bhushan and 81 Padma Shri awards.  There are 17 ladies among the awardees.