Cherukuri Ramoji Rao was an Indian businessman, media proprietor and film producer. He was head of the Ramoji Group which owns the world's largest film production facility Ramoji Film City, Eenadu newspaper, ETV Network of TV channels, film production company Ushakiran Movies.
Swami Dayananda Saraswati was a renunciate monk of the Hindu Saraswati order of sannyasa. He was also known as Pujya Swamiji and was a traditional teacher of Advaita Vedanta. He was the founder of the Arsha Vidya Gurukulams in Pennsylvania, USA; Rishikesh, Uttarakhand and Coimbatore Tamil Nadu, India. He was also the spiritual Guru of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan,, for his service to the nation in the field of spirituality in 2016.
The TTK Group is an Indian business conglomerate with a presence across several segments of industry including consumer durables, pharmaceuticals and supplements, bio-medical devices, maps and atlases, consular visa services, virtual assistant services and health care services.
Sudha Ragunathan is an Indian Carnatic vocalist, singer and composer. She was conferred the Kalaimamani award by the Government of Tamil Nadu in 1994, Padma Shri (2004) and Padma Bhushan (2015) by the Government of India, and Sangeetha Kalanidhi by Madras Music Academy in 2013.
Dr. Narayan Singh Manaklao is a noted social worker of India and was member of the Rajya Sabha, by nomination during August 2003 to August 2009. He is also a recipient of the Padma Bhushan award. He was born in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan in 1942.
Cyrus S. Poonawalla is an Indian billionaire businessman, and the chairman and managing director of the Cyrus Poonawalla Group, which includes the Serum Institute of India, an Indian biotech company which is the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world and Poonawalla Fincorp a leading NBFC in India. In 2022, he is ranked as the 4th richest person in India on Forbes India rich list with a net worth of $24.3 billion. He is ranked number 1 on the Hurun Global Healthcare Rich List 2022.
Balasubramaniam Rajam Iyer was a Carnatic singer from South India. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1987.
Parveen Talha is an Indian civil servant, reported to be the first Muslim woman to serve in any Class I civil service in India, the first Indian Revenue Service officer to become a member of the Union Public Service Commission and the first woman to serve in Narcotics Department of India. She was honoured by the Government of India, in 2014, by bestowing on her the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for her services to Indian Civil Service.
Neidonuo Angami is an Indian social worker and one of the founders of the Naga Mothers' Association, a non governmental organization working for remedying the social problems in Nagaland, India. She is reported to have been selected as one of the 1000 women shortlisted for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2005. She was honored by the Government of India, in 2000, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
K. P. Haridas is an Indian surgeon specializing in minimally invasive surgeries, and the founder of Chairman of Lords Hospital, a super-specialty healthcare centre in Thiruvananthapuram. He is credited with the first successful liver resection, which he performed at the Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram.
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 her contributions to music, making her the first visually impaired woman to receive the award.
Voluntary Health Services, popularly known as the VHS Hospital, is a multispecialty tertiary care referral hospital in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, reportedly serving the economically weaker sections of the society. It was founded in 1958 by Krishnaswami Srinivas Sanjivi, an Indian physician, social worker and a winner of Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards and is run by a charitable non governmental organization of the same name. The hospital is situated along Rajiv Gandhi Salai at Taramani, in Chennai.
Kanaka Srinivasan is an Indian classical dancer and one of the leading exponents of the classical dance form of Bharat Natyam. She is a disciple of Vazhuvoor B. Ramaiyah Pillai and is aligned with Vazhuvur tradition of the dance form. She is a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award of 1998. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2006, for her contributions to Indian classical dance.
C. U. Velmurugendran is an Indian neurologist, medical writer and the chairman and head of the Department of Neurology at the Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, Chennai. He is an honorary professor at the Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences, Tirupati and has contributed chapters to books including Diseases of the Spinal Cord, published in 2012. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2008, for his contributions to medicine.
Joseph H. Pereira, popularly known as the Singing Priest, is an Indian Roman Catholic priest, social worker and the founder trustee of Kripa Foundation, a Mumbai-based non governmental organization working for the rehabilitation of HIV patients and people affected by substance abuse. He has been associated with Mother Teresa and B. K. S. Iyengar and is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences. A pupil of B. K. S. Iyengar and a proponent of Iyengar Yoga, he is a certified instructor of the yoga school. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2009, for his contributions to society.
Mambalikalathil Sarada Menon was an Indian psychiatrist, social worker and the founder of Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF), a Chennai-based non-governmental organization working for the rehabilitation of people afflicted with schizophrenia and other mental disorders. An Avvaiyyar Award recipient, she was a former Madras Medical Service officer and the first woman psychiatrist in India. The Government of India awarded her the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1992, for her contributions to society.
Madeleine Herman de Blic was a Belgian-born Indian social worker and humanist, known for her humanitarian services in the south Indian state of Puducherry. She is the founder of Volontariat, a Puducherry-based non governmental organization engaged in social welfare activities since 1966. She is a recipient of several honors such as Legion of Honour from the Government of France, Order of the Crown from the King of Belgium, Doctor Schweitzer Award and the Independence Day Award from the Government of Puducherry. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2016, for her contributions to society.
Daljeet Singh Gambhir is an Indian cardiologist, medical academic, researcher and inventor and the Group Director of Cardiology at Kailash Group of Hospitals and Heart Institute, Noida. He is the inventor of Infinnium Paclitaxel-Eluting Stent, a reportedly cheaper drug-eluting stent which he first presented at the EuroPCR meeting held in Paris in 2003. A fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences and an honorary fellow of the Indian College of Cardiology, he is reported to have performed over 10,000 coronary interventions. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2016, for his contributions to medicine.
Prakash Chand Surana was an Indian jeweler, business person, philanthropist and a music connoisseur, known for his efforts to promote Hindustani music. He was the co-founder of Shruti Mandal, a music community in Jaipur and served as its president, under the aegis of which he reportedly attempted to revive Jaipur gharana tradition. Founded in 1964, the forum has hosted, over the years, such musicians as Kumar Gandharv, Ravi Shankar, Zakir Hussain, Bhimsen Joshi and Hariprasad Chaurasia. Born in 1939 in Jaipur in the Indian state of Rajasthan in a Marwari family, he inherited the family jewelry business and contributed to reviving the Kundan meenakari tradition of jewelry making. Surana, who was married to Shobha Devi and had four children- Chandra, Manju, Pracheer & Priti, died on 5 February 2015, succumbing to a cardiac arrest. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, posthumously in 2016, for his contributions to arts. He was also a recipient of Sawai Bhawani Singh Award for excellence in business and industry and Dagar Gharana Award of the Maharana of Mewar Foundation.
