PADMA AWARDEES OF TAMILNADU (2022)

Padma Awards:

Padma Awards – one of the highest civilian Awards of the country .

It is conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.

The Awards are given in various disciplines/ fields of activities, viz.- art, social work, public affairs, Science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil Service, etc.

• ‘Padma Vibhushan’ is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service;
• ‘Padma Bhushan’ for distinguished service of high order
• ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field

The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.

Padma awardees of India and Tamilnadu:

Award	No of awardees in India	No of awardees in Tamilnadu
Padma Shri	107	7
Padma Bhushan	16	–
Padma Vibushsan	4	–

Padma Shri awardees from Tamilnadu:

Sirpi Balasubramaniam:

• Distinguished Tamil Poet, scholar and a two-time Sakitya Akademy winner.
• Balasubramanaiam had served as the head of the Department of Tamil at Bharatiar University in Coimbatore.
• He has won several awards including the Bharathidasan award, Government of Tamil Nadu award among many others.
• Some of his finest works include Siritha Muthukkal, Sooriya Nizhal, Oru Gramathu Nadhi, etc.
• His poems have been translated into English, Kannada, Hindi, Malayalam, etc.

Sowcar Janaki:

• Legendary actor Sowcar Janaki has acted in over 400 films across Tamil, Kannada, and Telugu.
• She was a prominent radio artist at ‘Akashavani Madras’ since her early years.
• She was part of several stage shows and throughout her film career, she was known as a versatile performer.
• Janaki made her debut in 1950 through the Telugu film ‘ Shavukaru’ following which got her the moniker ‘Sowcar’.
• Her association with Tamil director K Balachander was widely appreciated by the audiences.
• Apart from receiving the Filmfare lifetime award (South) in 1984, she has won several accolades.
• At 91, she is still acting in films and keeps entertaining the audiences.

R Muthukannamal:

• Muthukannamal is among the last Devadasi Sathir dancer from Viralimalai, Trichy.
• Sathir, is an ancient dance form.
• She served the deity at the Murugan temple in Viralimalai.
• In 2018, she was honoured with DakshinaChitra Virudhu, an annual award presented by the Friends of Dakshinachitra to honour the folk performing artists.

AKC Natarajan :

• Hailed as the Clarinet Everest, Natarajan is a recipient of the Madras Music Academy’s Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 2008.
• He even received the Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 1994.
• Considered a legendary icon, he had performed in various leading Sabhas in Chennai and other cities and been part of several concerts.

S Ballesh Bajantri:

• A well known Indian Shehnai player and Hindustani vocalist
• S Bhallesh and his son Krishna Ballesh perform together.
• The duo were awarded Tamil Nadu state’s highest civilian award – Kalaimamani.
• S Bhallesh trained under the shehnai virtuoso Ustad Bismillah Khan.
• He has been awarded the Padma Shri for his contribution to the field of Classical Music under the Art category

Dr Veerswamy Seshiah:

• Diabetologist and founder of the Dr Balaji Diabetes Care Centre and Research Institute in Chennai
• Dr Seshiah was given the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) award from the Dr MGR Medical University.

S Damodaran:

• S Damodaran is a social worker who founded Gramalaya – an organisation that works towards development of women and children in rural areas and better sanitation.
• After he realised the problems with open defecation in rural areas, Gramalaya planned interventions to cover safe drinking water supply through hand pumps, piped water supply through individual tap connection and sanitary household toilets in the villages coupled with hygiene education.