15 NRIs Awarded with Pravasi Bharatiya Samman 2015: Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari presented the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards 2015 to 15 prominent Non-Resident Indians (NRI’s). The awards were presented on the concluding day of 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas at Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The recipients were – Mala Mehta, Australia ; Donald Rabindernauth Ramotar, Guyana ; Dr. Rajaram Sanjaya, Mexico ; Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, New Zealand ; Rajmal Parakh, Oman ; Duraikannu Karunakaran, Seychelles ; Essop Goolam Pahad, South Africa ; Shah Bharatkumar Jayantilal, UAE ; Ashraf Palarakunnummal, UAE ; Mahendra Nanji Mehta, Uganda ; Prof. Nathu Ram Puri ; Lord Raj Loomba, Britain ; Satyanarayana Nadella, USA ; Dr. Lulla Kamlesh, US ; Dr.Nandini Tandon, USA. ISRO Mars Orbiter Mission Team Won Space Pioneer Award – 2015: The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) Team of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on 12 January won the 2015 Space Pioneer Award in the Science and Engineering category. The Mars Orbiter Mission team is located in Bangalore and is headed by Mylswamy Annadurai. This prestigious award is be given by the National Space Society (NSS), an American educational and scientific organization. Kamal Kishore Goyanka Selected For Vyas Samman 2014: Well-known Hindi scholar and writer Dr. Kamal Kishore Goenka was on 13 January chosen for Vyas samman 2014. He has been chosen for this award for his research work ‘Premchand Kee Kahaniyo Kaa Kaalkramanusar Adhyayan’. It was published in 2012. This award is instituted by the K.K. Birla Foundation. It was started in 1991. Jammu and Kashmir Won National E-Governance Award 2014-15: Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has been selected for National e-Governance award 2014-15 for its best district level initiative in the country.J&K state has been selected on 16 January for this award by Department of Administrative Reforms for its e-Panchayat project. Padma Awards 2015 Announced: The President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 25 January approved the conferment of Padma Awards 2015 to 104 person this year. The list of the awardees comprises of 9 Padma Vibhushan, 20 Padma Bhushan and 75 Padma Shri. The list also features 17 women as awardees and includes 17 persons from the category of foreigners, NRIs, PIOs and 4 Posthumous awardees.Padma Awards are one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, conferred in three categories – Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri – and given in various disciplines. Padma Vibhushan: 1. LK Advani- Public Affairs- Gujarat 2. Amitabh Bachchan- Art- Maharashtra 3. Prakash Singh Badal- Public Affairs- Punjab 4. Dr D Veerendra Heggade- Social Work- Karnataka 5. Mohammad Yusuf Khan alias Dilip Kumar- Art- Maharashtra 6. Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Swami Rambhadracharya- Others- Uttar Pradesh 7. Prof Malur Ramaswamy Srinivasan- Science and Engineering- Tamil Nadu 8. Kottayan K. Venugopal- Public Affairs- Delhi 9. Karim Al Hussaini Aga Khan (Foreigner)- Trade and Industry- France/UK Padma Bhushan :- 1. Jahnu Barua- Art- Assam 2. Dr Vijay Bhatkar- Science and Engineering- Maharashtra 3. Shri Swapan Dasgupta- Literature and Education- Delhi 4. Swami Satyamitranand Giri- Others- Uttar Pradesh 5. N Gopalaswami- Civil Service- Tamil Nadu 6. Dr Subhash C Kashyap- Public Affairs- Delhi 7. Dr (Pandit) Gokulotsavji Maharaj- Art- Madhya Pradesh 8. Dr Ambrish Mithal- Medicine – Delhi 9. Sudha Ragunathan- Art- Tamil Nadu 10. Shri Harish Salve- Public Affairs- Delhi 11. Dr Ashok Seth- Medicine- Delhi 12. Rajat Sharma- Literature and Education- Delhi 13. Satpal- Sports- Delhi 14. Shivakumara Swami- Others- Karnataka 15. Dr Kharag Singh Valdiya- Science and Engineering- Karnataka 16. Prof Manjul Bhargava (NRI/PIO)- Science and Engineering- USA 17. David Frawley (Vamadeva) (Foreigner)- Others- USA 18. Bill Gates (Foreigner)- Social Work- USA 19. Melinda Gates (Foreigner)- Social Work- USA 20. Saichiro Misumi (Foreigner)- Others- Japan Padma Shri :- 1. Dr Manjula Anagani- Medicine- Telangana 2. S Arunan- Science and Engineering- Karnataka 3. Kanyakumari Avasarala- Art- Tamil Nadu 4. Dr Bettina Sharada Baumer- Literature and Education- Jammu and Kashmir 5. Naresh Bedi- Art- Delhi 6. Ashok Bhagat- Social Work- Jharkhand 7. Sanjay Leela Bhansali- Art- Maharashtra 8. Dr Lakshmi Nandan Bora- Literature and Education- Assam 9. Dr Gyan Chaturvedi- Literature and Education- Madhya Pradesh 10. Prof (Dr) Yogesh Kumar Chawla- Medicine- Chandigarh 11. Jayakumari Chikkala- Medicine- Delhi 12. Bibek Debroy- Literature and Education- Delhi 13. Dr Sarungbam Bimola Kumari Devi- Medicine- Manipur 14. Dr Ashok Gulati- Public Affairs- Delhi 15. Dr Randeep Guleria- Medicine- Delhi 16. Dr KP Haridas- Medicine- Kerala 17. Rahul Jain- Art- Delhi 18. Ravindra Jain- Art- Maharashtra 19. Dr Sunil Jogi- Literature and Education- Delhi 20. Prasoon Joshi- Art- Maharashtra 21. Dr Prafulla Kar- Art- Odisha 22. Saba Anjum- Sports- Chhattisgarh 23. Ushakiran Khan- Literature and Education- Bihar 24. Dr Rajesh Kotecha- Medicine- Rajasthan 25. Prof Alka Kriplani- Medicine Delhi 26. Dr Harsh Kumar- Medicine- Delhi 27. Narayana Purushothama Mallaya- Literature & Education- Kerala 28. Lambert Mascarenhas- Literature and Education- Goa 29. Dr Janak Palta McGilligan- Social Work- Madhya Pradesh 30. Veerendra Raj Mehta- Social Work- Delhi 31. Tarak Mehta- Art- Gujarat 32. Neil Herbert Nongkynrih (Art), Meghalaya 33. Chewang Norphel- Others- Jammu and Kashmir 34. TV Mohandas Pai- Trade and Industry- Karnataka 35. Dr Tejas Patel- Medicine- Gujarat 36. Jadav Molai Peyang- Others- Assam 37. Bimla Poddar- Others- Uttar Pradesh 38. Dr N Prabhakar- Science and Engg- Delhi 39. Dr Prahalada- Science and Engg- Maharashtra 40. Dr Narendra Prasad- Medicine- Bihar 41. Ram Bahadur Rai- Literature and Education- Delhi 42. Mithali Raj- Sports- Telangana 43. PV Rajaraman- Civil Service- Tamil Nadu 44. Prof JS Rajput- Literature and Education- Uttar Pradesh 45. Kota Srinivasa Rao- Art- Andhra Pradesh 46. Prof Bimal Roy- Literature and Education- West Bengal 47. Shekhar Sen- Art- Maharashtra 48. Gunvant Shah- Literature and Education- Gujarat 49. Brahmdev Sharma- Literature and Education- Delhi 50. Manu Sharma- Literature and Education- Uttar Pradesh 51. Prof Yog Raj Sharma- Medicine- Delhi 52. Vasant Shastri- Science and Engg- Karnataka 53. SK Shivkumar- Science and Engg- Karnataka 54. PV Sindhu- Sports- Telangana 55. Sardara Singh- Sports- Haryana 56. Arunima Sinha-Sports- Uttar Pradesh 57. Mahesh Raj Soni- Art- Rajasthan 58. Dr Nikhil Tandon- Medicine- Delhi 59. H Thegtse Rinpoche- Social Work- Arunachal Pradesh 60. Dr Hargovind Laxmishanker Trivedi- Medicine- Gujarat 61. Huang Baosheng- Others- China 62. Prof Jacques Blamont- Science and Engg- France 63. Late Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin- Others- Maharashtra (Posthumous) 64. Jean-Claude Carriere- Literature and Education – France 65. Dr Nandrajan ‘Raj’ Chetty- Literature and Education- France 66. George L Hart- Others- USA 67. Jagat Guru Amrta Suryananda Maha Raja- Others- Portugal 68. Late Meetha Lal Mehta- Social Work- Rajasthan (Posthumous) 69. Tripti Mukherjee- Art- USA 70. Dr Dattatreyudu Nori- Medicine- USA 71. Dr Raghu Rama Pillarisetti (Medicine), USA 72. Dr Saumitra Rawat- Medicine- UK 73. Prof Annette Schmiedchen (Literature and Education), Germany 74. Late Pran Kumar Sharma alias Pran- Art- Delhi (Posthumous) 75. Late R Vasudevan- Civil Service- Tamil Nadu (Posthumous)