Elattuvalapil Sreedharan is an Indian engineer and politician from the Indian state of Kerala. He is credited with changing the face of public transport in India with his leadership in building the Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro while he served as the managing director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) between 1995 and 2012. Known as the Metro Man, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2001, the Padma Vibhushan in 2008, the Chevalier de la Legion of Honour in 2005 by the Government of France and was named one of Asia's Heroes by Time magazine in 2003. Sreedharan was appointed by the former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to serve on the United Nations's High Level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport (HLAG-ST) for a period of three years in 2015. He is a member of Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board. He briefly served as a national executive council member of Bharatiya Janata Party, but later quit active politics in December 2021. He also worked as an advisor of Dhaka Metro authority which is called Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited under the Railway Ministry of Bangladesh.
The Engineering Services Examination (ESE) is a standardized test conducted annually by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to recruit officers to various engineering Services under the Government of India. Held in four categories—Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, and Electronics & Telecommunication, the exam has three stages comprising objective, subjective and personality tests. The Services are also informally known as Indian Engineering Services (IES).
John Matthai CIE (1886–1959) was an economist who served as Independent India's first Railway Minister and subsequently as well as India's Finance Minister, taking office shortly after the presentation of India's first Budget, in 1948. He was born on January 10, 1886, as the son of Challiyal Thomas Matthai and Anna Thayyil to an Anglican Syrian Christian family. He graduated in economics from the University of Madras. He served as a Professor and Head in University of Madras from 1922 to 1925. He presented two Budgets as India's Finance Minister, but resigned following the 1950 Budget in protest against the increasing power of the Planning Commission and P. C. Mahalanobis. He was the first Chairman of the State Bank of India when it was set up in 1955. He was the founding President of the Governing Body of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in New Delhi, India's first independent economic policy institute established in 1956. He served as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Mumbai from 1955 till 1957 and then as the first Vice Chancellor of the University of Kerala from 1957 to 1959. His nephew, Verghese Kurien, is generally recognized as the architect of India's White Revolution. Dr. John Matthai Centre, Thrissur, located on the large plot of land donated by his family, is named in his honour. His wife, Achamma Matthai was an Indian social worker and a women's rights activist. The Government of India honoured him in 1954 with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award, for his contributions to the society,
Chandraprakash Dwivedi is an Indian actor, film director and screenwriter, who is best known for directing the 1991 television epic Chanakya in which he also played the title role of the political strategist Chanakya and an inspiration for millions. He has also directed the 1996 television series Mrityunjay which is based on the life of Karna, one of the main characters of the epic Mahabharata, for which he won a Screen Videocon Best Director award. His other major work is the 2003 film Pinjar, a tragic love story set amidst the Hindu-Muslim tensions during the Partition of India, based on Amrita Pritam's novel of the same name. He also wrote and directed Akshay Kumar-starrer Samrat Prithviraj (2022). He was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian honour of the country, in 2022.
Prashanti Singh is a shooting guard for the Indian national women's basketball team. She is first basketball player in India conferred with National Civilian Award Padma Shri in 2019. She has been honoured with the Arjuna Award by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India in 2017. She has also been conferred with the prestigious Rani Laxmi Bai Bravery Award 2016–17 in the field of sports by Government of Uttar Pradesh.
Palle Rama Rao FREng is an Indian scientist noted for his contribution to the field of Physical and Mechanical Metallurgy. He has collaborated and conducted research activities for over dozen universities and associations all over India and abroad. He has been honoured with the titles of Padma Vibhushan in 2011 by president of India for his contributions to scientific community. He is acting as the chairman, Governing Council, International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy & New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad.
Vellayani Arjunan was an Indian writer, scholar, and linguist from Kerala. He served two terms at the State Institute of Encyclopaedic Publications as chief editor from 1975 to 1988 and as director from 2001 to 2004. During his tenure at the institute, seven volumes of the 12-volume Malayalam encyclopedia Viswasahityavijnanakosam were published. He is credited with several publications, including children's literature and critical studies. His book Gaveshana Mekhala has been a prescribed text for the post graduate course M.A. Malayalam at the Aligarh Muslim University. A recipient of the Paramacharya Award from Sarojini Bhaskaran Memorial Charitable Public Trust, he was honored by the Government of India in 2008 with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
Khushdeva Singh (1902–1985) was an Indian physician and social worker, known for his contributions towards the treatment of tuberculosis in India. Born in Patiala in the Indian state of Punjab, he served at the Hardinge Sanatorium, Dharampur in Himachal Pradesh for most of his service. He was the founder of the Lepers' Welfare Society, Patiala for the rehabilitation of leprosy patients of the region. Reports credit him as a humanist with a secular vision; he was known to have treated several Muslims during the Partition of India. He is the author of the books In Dedication and Love is Stronger Than Hate. In 1957, the Government of India honoured him with Padma Shri, the fourth-highest Indian civilian award, for his service to the nation. The Padma Shri Dr. Khushdeva Singh Hospital for Chest Diseases in Patiala is named after him.
Hakim Abdul Hameed was an Indian physician of the traditional medicine system of Unani, the founder chancellor of Jamia Hamdard, and a former chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. His ancestors came from Kashgar to the Indian subcontinent, in the reign of the Mughal emperor, Shah Alam. He was the founder and chief trustee of Hamdard Laboratories. He was honoured by the Government of India in 1965, with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award and in 1992, the government awarded him the third highest Indian honour of Padma Bhushan. He was the elder brother of the Hakeem Muhammad Saeed.
Chandra Prakash Vohra is an Indian geologist, glaciologist and mountaineer who climbed Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world, in 1965. He was one of the 9 summiters of the first successful Indian Everest Expeditions that climbed Mount Everest in May 1965 led by Captain M S Kohli.On 24 May th 1965 Vohra and Ang Kami Sherpa together reached the top of Mount Everest,. He was the first Indian civilian to scale the peak a feat he accomplished on 24 May 1965. A winner of the Arjuna Award (1965), and the National Mineral Award, Vohra was honoured by the Government of India in 1965, with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award,. He is the 4th Indian man and 19th man in world that climbed Mount Everest.
Thomas V. Kunnunkal is an Indian Jesuit priest, educationist and writer. He is a former chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), a former director of the Indian Social Institute, New Delhi (2008–2009), and the President of the Islamic Studies Association, a non-governmental organization promoting religious harmony. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri in 1974.
Gitchandra Tongbra, popularly known as G. C. Tongbra, was an Indian satirist, poet, playwright and art academic from Imphal. Born on 6 February 1913 in the Indian state of Manipur, Tongbra was known for his socio-realistic plays such as Mani Manou (1962), Matric Pass (1964) and Upu Baksi (1972).
Bhupathiraju Vissam Raju (1920–2002) was an Indian industrialist, a former chairman of Raasi Cements and the Cement Corporation of India and one of the pioneers of Indian cement industry. He was the director of Sagi Ramakrishnam Raju Constructions and Prasad and Company Project Works Limited. He was also interested in ceramics and refractory industries and Starting in 1997, he founded two engineering colleges, a dental college and hospital, a college of pharmacy, a computer education college, a polytechnic, and several schools, and he is the founder of the Padmasri Dr. B.V Raju Institute of Technology. The Government of India awarded him the fourth-highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri in 1977 and followed it with the third-highest honour of Padma Bhushan in 2001.
Gambhir Singh Mura was an Indian tribal dancer known for his contributions to the tribal martial dance of Chhau. He was an exponent of the Purulia school of Chhau.
Shishupal Ram was an Indian pediatrician. Born in the Indian state of Bihar, he was a graduate of the Patna Medical College. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Shri in 1983. He died on 29 October 2011 at the age of 84.
Eliza Nelson, née Eliza Mendonca, is an Indian field hockey player and a former captain of the women's national field hockey team of India. She received the Arjuna Award in 1981 and the Government of India awarded her the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Shri in 1983.
Saliha Abid Hussain was an Indian writer of Urdu literature, considered by many to be one of the prominent writers of modern Urdu novels and children's literature. She is the author of works such as Azra, Rekhta, Yadgaray haliBaat Cheet and Jane Walon ki Yad Ati Hai. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Shri in 1983. Her life has been documented in a biography, Saliha Abid Hussain, written by Sughra Mehdi and published in 1993.
Roshan Kumari Fakir Mohammad is an Indian classical dancer, actor and choreographer, considered by many as one of the foremost exponents of the Indian classical dance form of Kathak. She follows the Jaipur Gharana and is the founder of Nritya Kala Kendra, Mumbai, an academy promoting Kathak. A recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1975, she received the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Shri from the Government of India in 1984.
Bilkees Idrees Latīf was an Indian social worker and writer from Telangana, known for her work in the slums of India. She was a founding member of INTACH.
