Alluri Venkata Sathyanarayana Raju, familiarly known as AVS Raju works in the Indian construction industry and is the founder chairman of Nagarjuna Construction Company Ltd.
G. V. Chalam, also known as Guduru Venkata Chalam (1909–1967), was an Indian activist and agricultural scientist who received the Padma Shri in 1967.
Madappa Mahadevappa, popularly known as Rice Mahadevappa was an Indian agricultural scientist and plant breeder, renowned for developing high yielding hybrid varieties of rice. He served for more than 55 years and had a glowing career. He served as the Vice-chancellor of University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad for two terms and his selfless hard work along with broad vision lead to the award of ICAR's SARDAR PATEL OUTSTANDING INSTITUTION award in the year 2000 to UAS, Dharwad. He served as chairman of Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board under Indian Council of Agricultural Research of which he was a member of governing council. As chairman of ASRB, he introduced radical changes to create transparency in recruitment and expedited the process of promotions. This enhanced the talent pool at ICAR system to further contribute to the cause of the agriculture and farming community. He was the recipient of Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour, Padma Shri and various other accolades.
Ajay Kumar Parida was an Indian biologist noted for his contributions in the fields of agriculture, plant molecular biology and biotechnology. In 2014, Parida was awarded the Padma Shri Award by the President of India for his contribution in the field of Science and Technology.
Vijaipal Singh in Narsan Kalan, Haridwar District of Uttarakhand State, India is an Agricultural scientist associated with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and is known for his contributions to the science of rice genetics and breeding. He is well known for his contributions in developing the most popular Basmati rice variety, Pusa Basmati 1121. A post graduate and a doctoral degree (PhD) holder in Agriculture Botany from Agra University, he started his career as a research assistant at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi in 1968 and retired as a professor at the Division of Genetics, IARI. Singh is credited with several articles published in peer reviewed journals. In recognition of his services to the nation, he was honored by the Government of India, in 2012, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
Krishnaswamy Ramiah was an Indian agricultural scientist, geneticist, parliamentarian and the founder director of Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, credited with introducing systematic hybridisation programmes in rice breeding in India. The Government of India honoured him in 1957, with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth-highest Indian civilian award for his services to the nation and followed it up with the third-highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan in 1970.
Navalpakkam Parthasarthy, (1900–1993) was an Indian geneticist, executive secretary of International Rice Commission and Rice Advisor to the governments of Liberia and Thailand. The Government of India honoured him in 1958, with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award for his services to the nation.
Chintala Venkat Reddy is an organic farmer known for his soil and nutrient management techniques in farming. He is the first independent farmer in India to receive an international patent for his technique in soil swapping and soil fertility.
Kamala Pujari is a tribal woman from Koraput in Odisha, India. She is known for promoting organic farming. Interested in traditional farming, she learned the basic techniques from MS Swaminathan Research Foundation at Jeypore and has contributed a lot in the field of organic farming. She was awarded India's fourth highest civilian, the Padma Shri.
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.
Aditya Prasad Dash, who hails from the Indian State of Odisha, is an Indian biologist with special interest in malaria and vector borne diseases. His areas of interest include biomedical science, transmission biology of tropical disease, and modern biology of disease vectors. According to Vidwan, the national network for researchers and experts, Dash has authored 320 publications co-authored 699 publications. Since September 2020, Dash has been serving as the Vice Chancellor of Asian Institute of Public Health (AIPH) in Bhubaneswar. Before joining AIPH, he was the Vice Chancellor of Central University of Tamil Nadu during the period from August 2015 to August 2020. He had also worked at the World Health Organization (WHO) as the Regional Advisor for the South-East Region. He has also worked as the Director of the National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR), New Delhi, of the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar and of the National Institute for Research on Tribal Health, Jabalpur.
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.
Om Prakash Gandhi is a social worker from the Indian State of Haryana dedicated to the cause of girl child education.
Gosaveedu Shaik Hassan was an accomplished scholar and player of the Nadaswaram, a traditional classical instrument popular in South India. He had served as the Asthana Vidwan in the Sita Ramachandraswamy Temple, Bhadrachalam from 1950 to 1993. He had also served at the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple, Yadadri.
Thavil Kongampattu A V Murugaiyan is a thavil player from the Puducherry Union Territory in India.
Abdul Khader Nadakattin is a grassroots agricultural innovator, a social worker and an environmentalist from Dharwad in the Indian state of Karnataka. He is credited with more than 40 innovations that assist small and marginal farmers. His famous innovations include a tamarind seed separation device, a ploughing blade making machine, a seed cum fertilizer drill, a water-heating boiler, an automatic sugarcane sowing driller, and a wheel tiller. In the year 2022, Govt of India honoured Abdul Khader Nadakattin by conferring the Padma Shri award for his contributions in the field of grassroots innovation.
Amai Mahalinga Naik is an innovative farmer from Adyanadka village in Dakshina Kannada district in the Indian State of Karnataka who single-handedly developed an organic agricultural farm with a zero-energy micro-irrigation system. This he achieved by digging tunnels deep into the sloping hills on which his land was located and tapping groundwater trapped in the bowels of the hills through the tunnels. In fact it was only in his sixth attempt in which he dug a tunnel of length 315 feet Naik could strike success. All the previous five attempts in which he dug tunnels of length at least 35 meters ended up in failing to strike a water source. The water sourced through this tunnel was used for watering the plants in his farm. After he struck success in his sixth attempt, he dug one more tunnel to bring water for drinking and household usage. The relentless pursuit of this tunneling operation earned him the nick name "The Tunnel Man of Karnataka". He also single-handedly constructed about 300 percolation trenches in the hills surrounding the farm and two revetments and a tank of 12,000 litres capacity to fill-up the revetments. His work transformed a deserted and barren plot of land into a lush oasis comprising arecanut palms, coconut trees, cashew trees, banana saplings and pepper vines. Naik’s farm has become a model-farmland and attracts over 1,000 visitors a year including several foreign tourists.
V L Nghaka is an academician from the Indian State of Mizoram known for his efforts for the propagation and development of the Hindi language in Mizoram. He authored the first Hind-Mizo dictionary and got it published in the year 1965. In the year 2022, Govt of India honoured V L Nghaka by conferring the Padma Shri award for his contributions to literature and education. As per his citation for Padma Shri award, "He built a cultural bridge between Hindi and Mizo language by drafting a Hindi-Mizo dictionary. As an interpreter, he was instrumental in bringing the government and Mizo people closer.”
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.
Cheruvayal K. Raman is an Indian tribal farmer from Wayanad district, Kerala. He is known as the guardian of rare seeds. Without having any knowledge of conventional sciences like agriculture science or botany, he is known for conserving over 55 rice varieties on his small farm at Kammana. Raman started farming on 40 acres of land given to him by his uncle. In January 2023, the Indian government honoured him with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in the country.