Sharmila Tagore, Sridevi receive Padma honours

President Pranab Mukherjee has once again followed the tradition of giving away Padma honours for this year. In the first batch of the awardees, actress Sharmila Tagore and cricketer Rahul Dravid received their Padma Bhushan, while actress Sridevi was honoured with the Padma Shri. Telugu producer D. Ramanaidu also received the Padma Bhushan.

Actor Rajesh Khanna and comedian Jaspal Bhatti will both receive the Padma Bhushan posthumously in the next batch of awards. Mr. Khanna died in July and Mr. Bhatti in October last year.Sholaydirector Ramesh Sippy and actor Nana Patekar are also in the queue to receive the Padma Shri.

Among others, sculptor Raghunath Mohapatra has been awarded with the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian award while theatre personality B. Jayashree, boxer Dingko Singh, photographer Pablo Bartholomew and entrepreneur Vandana Luthra also received the Padma Shri. Boxer Mary Kom and industrialist Adi Godrej will also be receiving the Padma Bhushan while wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt and shooter Vijay Kumar will receive the Padma Shri. The selection committee for the prestigious honours this year included actress Ratna Pathak Shah, scientist Anil Kakodkar and Union Home Secretary RK Singh among others.