Sheesh Ram (born 10 October 1949) 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. [1] [2] In the year 2022, Govt of India honoured Sheesh Ram by conferring the Padma Shri award for his contributions to art. [3]
Sheesh Ram was born on 10 October 1949 in Begambagh in Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. His father was an employee of Meerut College. He used to watch NCC activities in the college along with his father. He completed matriculation from Sitabharti School. He then also took art training courses at Sevaram Art School and Chaman School of Art. After matriculation Sheesh Ram joined the Indian Army. All his subsequent education happened while he was in the Army. He retired from Army in 2007 as a Technical Supervisor in the Corps of EME.
The following are some of the notable works of Sheesh Ram. A more complete list is available in the facebook page of Sheesh Ram. [4]
H. R. Keshava Murthy was an Indian gamaka exponent and guru. He was honoured with Shantala Natya Sri Award by the Government of Karnataka in 1998 and Padma Shri in 2022 by the Government of India in the field of arts.
Narayan Shridhar Bendre was a 20th-century Indian artist and one of the founder members of Baroda Group Narayan Shridhar Bendre was born in Indore. He made a name for himself as a landscape artist. In 1992 he was awarded the Padma Bhushan.
Kailash Chandra Meher is an Indian artist, inventor, and social activist. He is a painter of contemporary modern art paintings and traditional Tussar Pattachitra paintings of Odisha. He was a recipient of the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2013.
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.
Khandu Wangchuk Bhutia is an artist from the Sikkim State of India 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.
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.
Lata Desai is a medical doctor from the Indian State of Gujarat who is 1980 along with her husband Dr. Anil Desai and a few friends founded the Society for Education Welfare and Action - Rural, a voluntary organization devoted to health and development activities in the tribal area of South Gujarat.
Malji Bhai Desai is a Gandhian social worker and a politician from the Indian State of Gujarat. He founded the Gandhi Ashram in Zilia village in Patan district in Gujarat in 1964 for the economic and educational development of the rural population of Gujarat. Under the aegis of the Ashram, several educational institutions were established and several projects were implemented for the economic development of the population. He was a devout Gandhian and the Ashram was an instrument for Desai to popularize the Gandhian way of life among the general populace.
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.
Vijaykumar Vinayak Dongre is a medical doctor from Mumbai who has devoted his entire life for the eradication of leprosy in the urban and rural areas, including the tribal areas, in the Indian State of Maharashtra. According to some estimates, there were approximately 40 lakh leprosy patients in India in 1981, but after the efforts of Dongre and others this has come down to 83,000. Dongre is affiliated to The Society for Eradication of Leprosy, Mumbai and is serving the Society as its Honorary Secretary. Dongre was associated with Acworth Leprosy Hospital, Mumbai as the Medical Superintendent for nearly 35 years and with Gandhi Memorial Foundation, Wardha as a director for nearly 8 years.
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.
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.
Darshanam Mogilaiah also known as Kinnera Mogulaiah, is an artist from the Indian state of Telangana and is one among a few surviving performers of a tribal musical instrument known by the name Kinnera. The kinnera is a stringed instrument much like a veena whose origin can be traced back to as early as the 4th century CE. The instrument is indigenous to the nomadic tribes and the Dalit communities in the Deccan Plateau such as the Dakkali, Madiga and the Chenchu. There are kinneras with different numbers of stairs or steps. Mogilaiah's forefathers were pioneers in making and playing kinneras having different numbers of stairs. His father had made a nine-stair kinnera. Mogilaiah was the first person to create a 12-stair kinnera and he is the only artist who makes and plays the 12-step kinnera. In the year 2022, Govt of India honoured him with the Padma Shri award for his contributions as a kinnera musician.
Thavil Kongampattu A V Murugaiyan is a thavil player from the Puducherry Union Territory in India.
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.”
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.
Chirapat Prapandvidya is a Thai archaeologist, Sanskrit scholar and an Indologist. He was the founder and the first Director of Sanskrit Studies Centre at Silpakorn University in Bangkok. He has also published over a hundred articles on Sanskrit and Indology. In the year 2022, Govt of India honoured Chirapat Prapandvidya by conferring the Padma Shri award for his contributions to literature and education.
Sakini Ramachandraih is a vocal folk singer and Dhol player from the Bhadradri town in the Telangana State in India. He is known for his expertise in "Kanchumelam-Kanchuthalam" an art form particularly identified with the Koya tribal community in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. This art form is almost on the verge of extinction and Ramachandraih is the only surviving practitioner of the art who can narrate the history of the sacred festival "Sammakka Sarakka Jathara" in both Telugu and Koya languages in its full totality. In the year 2022, Govt of India honoured Ramachandraiah by conferring the Padma Shri award for his contributions to art.