Prahlad Rai Agarwala is an Indian business man based in Kolkata, West Bengal, engaged in the manufacturing and export of a range of clothing and other products including inner wear, casual wear, kids wear, winter wear and footwear. The "Rupa" brand of knit wear owned by the hosiery company Rupa & Company Ltd. founded by Prahlad Rai Agarwala along with Ghanshyam Prasad Agarwala and Kunj Bihari Agarwal in 1968 is one of India's largest knitwear brand. [1] [2]
Agarwala holds a bachelor's degree in law from University of Calcutta. He is also the Honorary Consul of Republic of Columbia. Agarwala was awarded the lifetime achievement award in the 7th Reid & Taylor awards for retail excellence organized by the Asia Retail Congress, 2011. [3]
In the year 2022, Govt of India conferred the Padma Shri award, the third highest award in the Padma series of awards, on Prahlad Rai Agarwala for his distinguished service in the field of trade and industry. [4] The award is in recognition of his service as a "textile business leader, flag bearer of Make in India running Rupa & Co, one of India's largest clothing manufacturer and exporter". [5]
Titan Company Limited is an Indian company that mainly manufactures fashion accessories such as jewellery, watches and eyewear. Part of the Tata Group and started as a joint venture with TIDCO, the company has its corporate headquarters in Electronic City, Bangalore, and registered office in Hosur, Tamil Nadu.
Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (ABFRL) is an Indian fashion retail company headquartered in Mumbai. It emerged after the consolidation of the branded apparel businesses of Aditya Birla Group, comprising ABNL's Madura Fashion division and ABNL's subsidiaries Pantaloons Fashion and Retail (PFRL) and Madura Fashion & Lifestyle (MFL), in May 2015. Post consolidation, PFRL was renamed Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd.
Clothing industry or garment industry summarizes the types of trade and industry along the production and value chain of clothing and garments, starting with the textile industry, embellishment using embroidery, via the fashion industry to apparel retailers up to trade with second-hand clothes and textile recycling. The producing sectors build upon a wealth of clothing technology some of which, like the loom, the cotton gin, and the sewing machine heralded industrialization not only of the previous textile manufacturing practices. Clothing industries are also known as allied industries, fashion industries, garment industries, or soft goods industries.
Rupa & Company Limited is an Indian clothing company which makes knitted garments. The Company is primarily engaged in the manufacture of hosiery products in knitted undergarments casual wears and thermal wears. It produces innerwear, casual wear, thermal wear and sleepwear for men, women, and kids. While Frontline is its flagship brand, the Rupa family also consists of brands like Softline, Euro, Bumchums, Torrido, Thermocot, Macroman, Footline, and Jon. Rupa was founded and established by brothers PR Agarwala, GP Agarwala and KB Agarwala in 1968 when the erstwhile hosiery market was at a nascent stage and mainly addressed by unorganized players.
T. Senka Ao is a journalist from the Indian state of Nagaland. Senka Ao is best known for his work as the Editor-in-Chief of the "Ao Milen", the first newspaper in Nagaland established in 1933 and the first newspaper ever to be published in the local Ao language. During the period of his edittorship, Senka Ao created the "Alokba" character famous for his witty commentary on social and current issues. Senka Ao has contributed several articles to various publications and has authored nine books in the Ao language. Two of his books Kongro Lijen and Kishi Tezulen are in the process of translation into English. Senka Ao's books have been included in the syllabus of the Ao language in ICSE and ISC Board New Delhi, and up to class 10 under Nagaland Board of School Education. He is an examiner of Arrangtet Examination which is the highest Ao language degree.
Kamalini Asthana and Nalini Asthana are a sister duo from Agra in Uttar Pradesh known for their great performances of the Benaras Gharana style of Kathak. They are also known for their contributions to the popularisation of the Benaras Gharana style of Kathak both in India and abroad.
Akhone Asgar Ali Basharat is an author and poet from the Kargil district in the Union Territory of Ladakh in India. His writings are in the Balti language which is a Tibetic language natively spoken by the ethnic Balti people in the Baltistan region of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, Nubra Valley of the Leh district and in the Kargil district of Ladakh, India. He had had no formal school/college education; instead, he had his early education in a madrassa established by his father at his home in 1972. The madrassa used to teach its students the Balti, Persian and Arabic languages. He became interested in writing poetry from around 1980 and his early writings were Naat and Manqabat.
Harmohinder Singh Bedi is an Indian academician, academic administrator and author. Since 4 July 2018, he has been serving as the Chancellor of the Central University of Himachal Pradesh.
Khandu Wangchuk Bhutia is an India thangka painter from the Sikkim, known for his exquisite creative works in the Thangka style of painting. Thangka is a Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton, silk appliqué, usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scene, or mandala. Thangkas are traditionally kept unframed and rolled up when not on display, mounted on a textile backing somewhat in the style of Chinese scroll paintings, with a further silk cover on the front. Khandu Wangchuk Bhutia hails from Sakyong in West Sikkim and had his formal education from Government Senior Secondary School in Pelling and at Senior Secondary School at Namchi. After his formal education, he was ordained into monastic life at the Pemayangtse Monastery. In the monastery, he took up Thangka painting as a profession. He trained in Thangka painting under several renowned thangka painters like Dungzin Rimpoche, late Jigme Wangchuk Lama, late Phuntsok Sangpo and late Zapa Acho.
S Damodaran is the founder of the NGO Gramalaya, based in Tiruchirappalli. Gramalaya, established in 1987, was initially focused on the economic improvement of rural people. Later, realizing that the more urgent and immediate concern is the unavailability of clean drinking water and toilet facilities, the NGO shifted their focus to water and sanitation. Gramalaya aims to eradicate open defecation by providing eco-friendly toilets. Gramalaya is now an important resource center of the Ministry of Jalshakti, Govt. of India. The NGO has been functioning with the support of Government, donors and corporate groups under CSR initiatives. It was Gramalaya's efforts that helped transform the Thandavampatti village in Tiruchy into the first open-defecation free village in India in 2003.
Lourembam Bino Devi is a practitioner and a popularizer of the appliqué art of Manipur called Leeba in the Meitei language. The Leeba art is used in creating Monmai which is a decorative circular appliqué art piece used in covering both ends of the traditional Manipuri bolster pillow. In the olden days, Leeba was practiced at "Phiribi Loishang", which is a house for maintaining clothes worn by the deities and royals. The apparels used by the royals, including shoes, were mostly designed using the Leeba technique. Bino Devi has devoted her life to practice this art form and to revive it by trying to transmit her skills to younger generation of interested women. She has been providing this training in collaboration with the Heritage Foundation of Mankind, a Non-Governmental Organization located in Imphal. She has also conducted several workshops at Imphal and at various other places in India.
Arjun Singh Dhurve is a folk dancer and a retired teacher from the Dindori district of the Indian State of Madhya Pradesh. He is famous for popularising Baiga folk songs and dance. Baiga Pardhauni dance is the main dance of the Baiga tribe. In this form of dance, the performers wear the masks of peacocks, elephants, horses, etc.
Dhaneswar Engti is a poet-author from the Indian State of Assam promoting the use of the endangered Karbi language spoken by the Karbi people of Northeastern India. Engti has authored 19 books and written around 100 songs in the Karbi language. He has also served as the Joint Secretary of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council. In the year 2022, Govt. of India conferred on him the Padma Shri award for his work towards the preservation and advancement of indigenous languages.
Narasingha Prasad Guru is an author and a lyricist from the Indian State of Odisha. He is a pioneer and a promoter of the Koshali language, also known as the Sambalpuri language, which is a language spoken in the western parts of Odisha. He has composed over 10 books in this language and composed around 500 songs. He has also compiled a dictionary of the Koshali language.
Avadh Kishore Jadia is a poet and author in the Bundeli language and the Braj language from the Chhatarpur district in the Indian State of Madhya Pradesh. He was also an Ayurveda medical practitioner in the Madhya Pradesh Govt Service. In the year 2022, Govt of India honored him by conferring the Padma Shri award for his contributions as an author in the Bundeli and Braj languages.
Narendra Prasad Misra was an Indian physician. Originally from Gwalior, he lived in Bhopal in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Misra helped save thousands of lives during the Bhopal gas tragedy through his service.
Guruprasad Mohapatra was an officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) who had held several important positions in the Gujarat State Govt and also in the Central Govt of India. At the time of his demise in June 2021 due to COVID-19 he was holding the position of the Secretary of Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) in Govt of India.
Thavil Kongampattu A V Murugaiyan is a thavil player from the Puducherry Union Territory in India.
Ram Sahay Panday is a Rai dancer from Sagar in the Indian State of Madhya Pradesh. The Rai dance was traditionally associated with the Bedia community which itself was associated with flesh trade. In spite of the fact that he was not a member of the community, he devoted his whole life to the practice and performance of the Rai dance and to secure acceptance and respectability to the dance form. His untiring efforts helped obtain national and international recognition to this dance form.
Sheesh Ram is an ex-soldier of the Indian Army and a painter specialising in depicting themes like national integration, women empowerment, Indian warfare, terrorist attacks in India and the world. After 40 years of service in the Indian Army he retired in the year 2007. While he was in service and also after retirement he has been creating paintings on various themes like battle scenes, patriotism and soldiers' sacrifices. Many of his paintings have been installed in the Art Gallery of the Army. He had also conducted an exhibition of his paintings in Dubai. He has also designed many medals for the Army. Medals designed by him are still used for conferring Army, Air Force, Navy and Paramilitary honours. In the year 2022, Govt of India honoured Sheesh Ram by conferring the Padma Shri award for his contributions to art.