Urvashi Butalia is an Indian feminist writer, publisher and activist. She is known for her work in the women's movement of India, as well as for authoring books such as The Other Side of Silence: Voices from and the Partition of India and Speaking Peace: Women's Voices from Kashmir.
Padma Subrahmanyam, is an Indian classical Bharata Natyam dancer. She is also a research scholar, choreographer, teacher, Indologist and author. She is famous in India as well as abroad; several films and documentaries have been made in her honor by countries such as Japan, Australia and Russia. She is well known as the developer and founder of the dance form Bharata Nrithyam.
Amitabh Mattoo is one of India's leading thinkers and writers on Modern and Contemporary History, Political science, International relations. He was awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2009. He is a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University and honorary professor of international relations at the University of Melbourne. Mattoo is a member of the Academic Advisory Board of the German Institute for Global and Area Studies and was recently elected unanimously as its Deputy Chair. He was the founding CEO of the Australia India Institute at the University of Melbourne and served as chairman of the governing board of Miranda House, University of Delhi, the highest-ranked women's college in India, and served as Chair of Kirori Mal College earlier He has also been a member of the Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing. In 2002, he was the youngest person to be appointed as vice chancellor of a public university in independent India. Mattoo's advice on policy matters has been sought across political parties and across governments, including by Prime Ministers Atal Behari Vajpayee and Dr Manmohan Singh. Until 19 June 2018, he served as Advisor to the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, with the status of a Cabinet Minister. Following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India, he has offered a political roadmap for securing the future of Jammu and Kashmir. He has been a persistent advocate of multiculturalism and of reconciliation between Kashmiri Pandits and Kashmiri Muslims.
"Bombay" Jayashri Ramnath is an Indian Carnatic vocalist, singer, and musician. She has sung in multiple languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi movies. Born into a family of musicians, Jayashri represents the fourth generation of music practitioners in her family. Trained by Lalgudi Jayaraman and T.R. Balamani, she was awarded India's fourth highest civilian award, the Padma Shri, in 2021. She has become one of the most sought after Carnatic musicians today.
Aribam Syam Sharma is an Indian filmmaker and composer from Manipur. He debuted in the first Manipuri film Matamgi Manipur as an actor. In 1974, he directed his first movie Lamja Parshuram. It became the first Manipuri film to run for 100 days in the box office. His 1979 film Olangthagee Wangmadasoo was the first ever and the only Manipuri film to run for 32 weeks. It also broke the local box office records of Sholay.
Dr. 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, and he won a Screen Videocon Best Director award for the same. 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).
Ram Dayal Munda, known as R. D. Munda, was an Indian scholar and regional music exponent. He was awarded the Padma Shri of the year 2010 for his contribution to the field of art.
Ashok Panagariya was an Indian neurologist, medical researcher and academic, known for his research on nerve cells and neuromyotonia. He was a vice chancellor of Rajasthan University of Health Sciences, Jaipur and a member of the Planning Board of the Government of Rajasthan. He was a recipient of the Dr. B. C. Roy Award, the highest Indian award in the medical category. Dr. Ashok Panagariya was awarded the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2014. He died on 11 June 2021 due to COVID-19 complications.
Dr. Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan FRS is an emeritus professor and former director of the National Centre for Biological Sciences. On 26 March 2018, the Government of India appointed him as the principal scientific adviser to succeed Dr. R Chidamabaram. His term as Principal Scientific Adviser ended on April 2, 2022. In 2012, he was elected a fellow of The Royal Society and in April 2014 he was elected as a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences. He was conferred the Padma Shri on 26 January 2013 and is also a recipient of the Infosys Prize in the life sciences category in 2009.
Colathur Rama Krishnaswamy Rao SahibIAS, PV was an Indian civil servant who served as 15th Cabinet Secretary of India from 1981-1985. He also served as the Secretary to Prime Minister Charan Singh. when Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister of India. He was awarded the second highest civilian honor of India, Padma Vibhushan in 2006, besides the Great Maratha Award in 2009. His maternal grandfather was R. Ramachandra Rao, Collector of Nellore, who helped Srinivasa Ramanujan during the latter's formative years.
Noboru Karashima was a Japanese historian, writer and Professor Emeritus in University of Tokyo, Japan. He also served as Professor Emeritus at the Taisho University, Japan. He was a prominent scholar of Asia in the studies of south Indian and South Asian histories. He has rewritten historical accounts on medieval south India and published a number of writings.
Pandit Dr. S. Ballesh, born Ballappa Sanna Bharamappa Bhajantri, is an Indian classical Hindustani shehnai player. One of the most well-known disciples of shehnai player Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan, he is an expert in Benares gharana shehnai playing, and a Patiala gharana Hindustani vocalist, ghazal singer, Indian Playback singer and musician, often referred by the title Panditji and BadeGuruji. Ballesh is credited with popularizing the shehnai, a reeded woodwind instrument. While the shehnai had long held importance as a folk instrument played in traditional ceremonies in India, Ballesh is credited with elevating its status and bringing it back to the centre stage. He plays often for Prasar Bharati's All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan.
Geeta Dharmarajan is an Indian writer, educator and social activist. She is known as the founder of Katha, a "profit for all" social organization and as the Editor in Chief of Katha Press, one of the 10 Top Children's Book Publishers in India in 2022 Katha is also known as a publisher for children in Hindi Her books include Thangam of Mehargarh, Days with Thathu. I am Najar-am-Radh.
Gyan Prakash Chopra (1920-2011) was an Indian educationist, credited with the establishment of several educational institutions in India. A recipient of the Padma Shri in 1999, he was honored again by the Government of India, in 2010, with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, for his services to the field of education.
Karl Harrington Potter was an American-born writer, academic, and Indologist, from the University of Washington. He studied at the University of California, as well as Harvard University and is known for his writings on Indian philosophy.
Naresh Bedi is an Indian filmmaker, the eldest of the Bedi Brothers and a member of the second generation of three generations of Wildlife photographers and filmmakers. He is the first Asian to receive a Wildscreen Panda Award and the first Indian to receive a nomination for the British Academy Film Awards. He was honoured by the Government of India in 2015 with Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.
Dr. Gayatri Sankaran is an Indian Carnatic musician and vocalist specialising in Carnatic vocals and violin performances. She is a recipient of the Kalaimamani award from Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Manram, a unit of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government of Tamil Nadu. The Government of India honoured her in 2006 with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award for his contributions to music, making her the first visually impaired woman to receive the award.
Pratapaditya Pal is an Indian scholar of Southeast Asian and Himalayan art and culture, specializing particularly in the history of art of India, Nepal and Tibet. He has served as a curator of South Asian art at several prominent US museums including Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago, where he has organized more than 22 major exhibitions and helped build the museums' collection. He has also written over 60 books and catalogs, and over 250 articles on the subject, taught at several universities, and served as the editor of the Indian art magazine, Marg. In 2009 he was awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India for his contributions to the study of Indian art.
Krishnaswami Srinivas Sanjivi (1903–1994) was an Indian medical doctor, Gandhian, social worker and the founder of Voluntary Health Services (VHS), a medical facility in Chennai reported to be serving the lower and middle-class people of the society. He was honoured by the Government of India in 1971 with Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award. Five years later, the government followed it up by awarding him the third highest civilian award of Padma Bhushan in 1976.
Gobardhan Panika is an Indian master weaver of Kotpad handloom a traditional tribal craft. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2018, for his contributions to the art of weaving.