A list of Padma Bhushan winners from Tamil Nadu

The contributions made by the awardees in their chosen fields are a testimony to the selfless service they rendered to Tamil Nadu in general and the country in particular.
A list of Padma Bhushan winners from Tamil Nadu

Dr Suniti Solomon, who detected the first instance of HIV infection in India, was posthumously honoured with Padma Shri award for her work in medicine. 

It was she and her team at the Madras Medical College (MMC) that documented the first known case of HIV infection in the country way back in 1986 when testing the blood samples of six commercial sex workers staying in a government home in Chennai.

Dr Suniti was also one of the leading campaigners on spreading awareness on AIDS. She held workshops to train peer educators and other volunteers. 


She also set up the first AIDS Resource Group in India founded at the Madras Medical College and ran a variety of AIDS research and social services. 

The group was also the first comprehensive HIV/AIDS facility in India before any private and public sector participation. She took voluntary retirement from service to set up Y R Gaitonde Centre for AIDS Research and Education, a premier HIV/AIDS care and support centre in Chennai. Dr Suniti, 75, died of cancer on July 28, 2015.

Legend of mridangam

TK Murthy is a living legend in Mridangam. He hails from a family of musicians. As a child, his passion and talent for Mridangam were spotted by his guru Tanjavur Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, who adopted him for formal training. Yes. Those were the days when disciples were spotted for their potentiality for professional excellence and given gruelling training. The nonagenarian was born to Thanu Bhagavatar and Annapurani Amma on August 13, 1924. 

In the span of a near century, Murthy Sir has played for almost all the who’s who of Carnatic music covering almost three generations. 
That he was truly an adopted son of Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar is evident from the fact that he performs his guru’s annual shradha religiously till now. 

The ardent progeny of the Tanjore style, Murthy Sir was highly fascinated by Palani Subramania Iyer’s Pudukkottai Bani. A strict disciplinarian with tremendous intellect for laya vinyasa, the government of India should feel truly honoured for conferring the Padma Shri on him.
Author T Padmhasini is a Musicologist and Senior Fellow, Department of Culture

the Spiritual guru & Yogi

Jaggi Vasudev, popularly knows as Sadhguru, is a Hindu spiritual leader, philosopher and author having penned over 100 titles in eight different languages.

KJ Yesudas was conferred the prestigious Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India on Wednesday…during the month he turned 77.

It is indeed a fitting birthday gift for the King of Melody! Yesudas has had a prolific career graph across the Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi film industries and many classical melodious numbers can be credited to him. His voice lends a natural ‘sing-along’ quality, which makes us hum the tune along with him and his striking pitch-perfect Carnatic training lent itself to many classical songs on-screen as well.

A recipient of several honours across the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Yesudas was perhaps the first crossover singer to make a mark in Hindi films when he sang for Amitabh Bachchan and Amol Palekar with equal ease.

A career spanning over four decades, he still sings for lead actors in Malayalam and is one of the most deserving talents from the South to be awarded the Padma Vibhushan. As always, his Carnatic concerts continue to garner equal appreciation and his legendary songs with M S Vishwanathan and Ilayaraja hold high places in Halls of Fame. 

Yesudas has recorded over 70,000 songs and received the Padma Shri in 1975 and the Padma Bhushan in 2002. He has won seven National Awards for Best Playback Singer and is the only singer who has been accorded the title Asthana Gayakan (official singer) of Kerala.

He is associated more as the voice of Mammotty and Mohanlal after the 90s. Prior to that, he has crooned for Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan. With a black and white debut in the 1964-film Bommai, Yesudas sang his first popular song for M G Ramachandran and went on to sing for Sivaji Ganesan. 
 

Born in Mysuru on September 3, 1957 to Susheela and Dr Vasudev, Jaggi Vasudev went on to establish a non-profit Isha Foundation in Coimbatore, which gives yoga classes across the world. 

As a child, he had a passion for travel, adventure and nature. His long distance bike rides are well documented. He was a successful businessman before he had a spiritual experience atop Chamundi Hill in Mysuru at the age of 25, which made him the Sadhguru of today. 


He has been honoured with a Padma Vibhushan, the nation’s second-highest civilian award. 
Sadhguru started conducting yoga classes in Mysuru in 1983 and today his Isha Foundation has a presence in several countries.

The Foundation also established Action For Rural Rejuvenation (ARR) and Project Green Hands (PGH) aiming to benefit 70 million people in 54,000 villages across South India and increase the forest cover in Tamil Nadu to 33 per cent. 

The french connection


Coimbatore-based historian Michel Danino on Wednesday described his Padma Shri as a beautiful acknowledgement of his work. “This impels me to contribute much more,”  said Danino. “My aspiration is to make young Indians realise the wealth of the Indian culture.

There is a rich culture hidden beneath all the so-called black marks that is worth preserving, reviving and imbibing,” said Michel.


“It is not hollow patriotism or singing of national hymns that makes one an Indian,” he reasoned, adding that it required an in-depth understanding of the culture. 


Michel, originally from France, came to India 40 years ago when he was 21.
“I could not relate much to the European or French culture. But I had read extensively about India and its culture. So there was no culture shock, rather a homecoming. I now have a working knowledge of Tamil too,” says Michel.


He teaches Ancient Indian Civilization and Culture at IIT Gandhinagar in Gujarat. He also writes and gives lecture on it. Apart from this he has been extensively active in forest conservation of Tamil Nadu. He has also contributed to CBSE books.

Undisputed  King of satire


Endowed with a characteristic wit and humour which he used to full measure in plays and films, the versatile Cho Ramasamy was well known for his political satire and caustic barbs against political leaders of all shades whom he fearlessly criticised.


The 82-year-old theatre personality, film artist and journalist, had spent more than four decades in the tinsel world performing comedy roles and an equal period of time in journalism after he founded ‘Thuglak’, the political magazine, in 1970.


His bonding with late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was marked by mutual respect and affection. Besides being a long time friend sharing roles in plays and films, Cho was also her political guide chipping in with indispensable advice during troubling times.


Cho, who was born on October 5, 1934, was a lawyer by profession but left the field to embrace theatre, film and later journalism where he left an indelible mark by his sheer outstanding performance that earned him laurels. His debut in film was in 1963 as a comedian in Paar Magale Paar. He had appeared in 180 films, besides penning screen play and story for as many films.

A giant leap for differently-abled

Athlete Mariyappan Thangavelu, who belongs to a small village called Vadagampatti near Deevattipatty in Salem district, made India proud by winning a gold medal at the 2016 Paralympics Games held in Rio in Brazil. 

After the government announced Padma Shri award for Mariyappan, his elated friends, relatives and the villagers showered him with wishes while he was participating in the temple festival in his village. They garlanded him and praised him. 


Speaking to media persons about the announcement, Mariyappan said, “It’s a great honour to receive Padma Award and it will definitely encourage differently abled persons like me. I thank the Union Government.” Mariyappan’s coach Sathyanarayana is more happy to hear that the Union Government announced Padma award for a sportsperson. 


“A differently-abled person from a village is going to receive this prestigious award. Definitely, this announcement will encourage and create many sportsmen like Mariyappan,” he added. The Olympian and a high jump gold winner had lost his leg to a freak mishap in his childhood.

A life of service


Nivedita Raghunath Bhide (58), a follower of Swami Vivekananda, has been selected to receive the prestigious Padma Shri award under the Social Work category.


Born in Wardah, Maharashtra, in 1958, Nivedita joined the Vivekananda Kendra, Kanniyakumari, in 1977 as a life worker. She started her career as a social worker and became a noted educationist. 

Fitting birthday gift to the king of melody


Between 1978 and 1985, Nivedita worked in rural development projects in the four southern districts of Tamil Nadu. She was the Principal of the Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya, Kanniyakumari, from 1981 to 1994. She became the All India Secretary, Education, Vivekananda Kendra, and guided 47 schools of the Kendra in rural and tribal areas from 1993 to 2000.

Since 2000, she has been the Vice President of Vivekananda Kendra. Nivedita represented India at the International Meeting of Educational Experts in Australia, which was convened by the UNESCO for the Asia-Pacific region in 1999.

She was a member of the Executive Council of Association of Matriculation Schools, TN, and the General Body of National Council for Teacher Education from 1999 to 2005.

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