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Gautam Gambhir, 106-yr-old environmentalist among others receive Padma Awards

Agencies
March 16, 2019

New Delhi, Mar 17: Folk Singer Teejan Bai, Larsen and Toubro chairman Anil Kumar Naik, scientist S Nambi Narayanan, actor Manoj Bajpayee and 106-year-old environmentalist Saalumarada Thimmakka were among the 54 noted citizens conferred the Padma award by President Ram Nath Kovind here on Saturday.

Teejan Bai and Naik received the second highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan.

RSS leader Darshan Lal Jain who is trying to find the mythical river Saraswati, MDH founder CEO Mahashay Dharam Pal Gulati, medical professional Ashok Laxmanrao Kukade, Nambi Narayanan, mountaineer Bachendri Pal and former CAG V K Shunglu were among those awarded Padma Bhushan.

The ceremony in the imposing Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan saw the attendance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his cabinet colleagues Rajnath Singh, Harsh Vardhan, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Vijay Goel besides senior BJP leader L K Advani and senior government officials.

As many as 112 'inspiring' personalities were selected for this year's Padma awards and their names were announced on the eve of Republic Day this year.

The awards were conferred in two ceremonies with 47 dignitaries receiving the honour on March 11, while 54 were honoured on Saturday.

Besides Bajpayee who was conferred Padma Shri for his portrayal of unconventional and critically acclaimed roles, noted tabla player of Lucknow Gharana Swapan Chaudhuri, lawyer H S Phoolka who fought a long legal battle for 1984 anti-Sikh riots victims, scientist Sudam Laxman Kate considered a pioneer in sickle cell research, veteran archaeologist Muhammed K K and particle physicist Rohini Madhusudan Godbole also received the award.

Former editor of RSS mouthpiece 'Panchjanya' Devendra Swarup was conferred Padma Shri posthumously. A pracharak for 13 years, Swarup enjoyed close relations with four RSS Sarsanghachalak from M S Golwalkar to K S Sudarshan, according to an article published in Organiser after his death. His wife received the award.

Daitari Naik, 70-year old tribal from Keonjhar district in Odisha who single-handedly dug a 3 km-long canal with mere hoe and crowbar to bring water to his field in village Baitarani was conferred Padma Shri in 'social work' category.

Saalumarada Thimmakka who has planted thousands of trees over a period of 65 years, earning the sobriquet of 'Vriksha Mathe' for taking care of them as her children, was also conferred the coveted award.

Tsering Norboo, a surgeon based in Ladakh, who served for 50 years in remote and high altitude regions; Chinnapillai, a woman farmer who led microfinance in Tamil Nadu through her Kalanjiam movement; and Rajeshwar Acharya, a Hindustani singer were among the recipients of Padma Shri.

Footballer Sunil Chhetri, archer L Bombayla Devi, cricketer Gautam Gambhir, captain of Indian women's basketball team Prashanti Singh were also conferred Padma Shri by the president.

Bhojpuri singer Heera Lal Yadav, plastic surgeon Ramaswami Venkataswami who works for acid attack victims, farmer Bharat Bhushan Tyagi who promotes organic farming, archaeologist Sharada Srinivasan, former IPS Jyotinivas Kumar Sinha, pisciculturist Sultan Singh, Sanskrit scholars Brijesh Kumar Shukla and Mohammad Hanif Khan Shastri also received Padma Shri.

Other notable recipients included nature photographer Anup Shah, tea seller Devarapalli Prakash Rao who provide free education to poor children, Director PGI Chandigarh Jagat Ram, tribal activist Kamala Pujari who preserves endangered seeds, farmer from Jhalawar Hukamchand Patidar, promoter of Chhattisgarhi tribal music Anup Ranjan Pandey, first transgender Bharatnatyam dancer Narthaki Nataraj, Bundeli folk writer Kailash Madbaiya, Kutchi rogan artist Abdul Gafur Khatri and papier mache artist Fayaz Ahmad Jan.

Dogri poet Narsingh Dev Jamwal, folk writer Joraversinh Danubhai Jadav, social worker Droupadi Ghimiray, Madhubani painter Godawari Dutta, Parsi Gujarati theatre artist Dinyar R Contractor, Telugu lyricist Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry Chembolu, organic farmer Kanwal Singh Chauhan, Sayyad Shabbir alias Chabbu Sayyad Budhan who cares for cows, German national Friederike Irina Bruning who takes care of sick cows, Uttarakhandi folk singer Pritam Bhartwan, epidemiologist Omesh Kumar Bharti and grass root innovator Uddhab Kumar Bharali were also conferred Padma Shri.

This year's awardees were selected from across the nation and segments of society, with the government going beyond excellence and recognising larger impact and the awardees' selfless service, an official said.

The nomination process for Padma awards was made online in 2016 and a simple, accessible and secure platform was put in place to encourage citizens at large to participate. Erstwhile 'Government Awards' transformed into 'Peoples Awards', another official said.

A record 50,000 nominations were received for the 2019 awards, over 20 times more than 2014, when there were just 2,200 nominations.

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News Network
March 6,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 6: PVR Cinemas on Friday launched its five-screen multiplex in here, augmenting its presence in Karnataka across 15 properties to 103 screens and to 46 properties and 286 screens in southern India.

With this opening, PVR consolidates its growth momentum in the current financial year 2019-20, so far opening 83 screens in the year and bringing its portfolio to 841 screens at 176 properties in 71 cities.

"We feel proud to cross the 100 screens milestone in the state of Karnataka at the very beginning of the year," said Joint Managing Director Sanjeev Kumar Bijli.

"Southern India has a strong market with significant growth potential. In Bengaluru, we have introduced some of our best formats and offerings owing to the nature of preferences by our customers," he said in a statement.

Pramod Arora, Chief Growth and Strategy Officer at PVR Ltd, said the company will continue to enhance the consumer experience through innovation and set new benchmarks in the Indian multiplex industry.

PVR is the largest and the most premium film exhibition company in India, serving over 100 million patrons annually. 

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coastaldigest.com news network
July 28,2020

Bengaluru, July 28: Former prime minister and JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda today threatened to launch a state-wide agitation in against the amendments made to the Karnataka Land Reforms Act.

Gowda’s opposition to the new law comes even as Congress leader Siddaramaiah is also doggedly pursuing it.

Demanding that the state government immediately rollback the ordinance empowering these amendments, the octogenarian leader said he personally would take to streets if the government failed to budge.

The B S Yediyurappa government has liberalised the land reforms law by removing restrictions on non-agriculturists from purchasing and owning farm lands.

The government has also amended the APMC Act and has tweaked labour laws, which are all “against the interest of the state and must be rolled back,” Gowda said.

Speaking to reporters here, Gowda stated that he had already written thrice to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa in this regard. "The ordinances have to be taken back. The amendments to Karnataka Land Reforms Act, by repealing sections 79-A, B and C, is an anti-farmer move. The APMC Act amendment, too, is against the interest of the state. The government has failed to speak about the impact of these amendments," said Gowda, who is now a Rajya Sabha member.

Elaborating on the amendment to the Land Reform Act, the JD(S) patriarch opined that by throwing open agricultural land ownership to anybody at all, the government was only helping real estate developers while pushing farmers into a “vulnerable” situation.

Amidst all this, there are now reports of funds misappropriation in Covid-19 relief measures and in procurement of medical equipment, he said, adding that it seemed like only the corrupt became stronger over time.

Further, Gowda lambasted both national parties for creating political unrest, referring to the ongoing political crisis in Rajasthan and the recent developments in Madhya Pradesh. However, he added that he would not wish to dwell on it much, while emphasising that his focus was primarily on strengthening his own party at this point in time.

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News Network
March 16,2020

Belagavi, Mar 16: Despite issuing an order banning large gathering, including lavish weddings, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa attended the grand marriage celebrations of the daughter of BJP MLC Mahantesh Kavatagimath in Belagavi on Sunday.

The Chief Minister had advised people to postpone weddings till the COVID-19 scare passed off, or to restrict the number of guests to around 100. But the wedding on the lawns of Shagun gardens in the Udyambag industrial area in Belagavi had many more times the number of visitors.

A police officer on duty at the venue estimated the crowd to be over 3,000.

The large gathering was in clear defiance of the government order and the Chief Minister’s appeal. But Mr. Yediyurappa’s presence seems to have vindicated this act.

Hundreds of cars were parked on both sides of the Khanapur road, outside the venue which was decorated with flowers, buntings, rolls of paper and colourful cloth. Two huge banners about preventing the spread of COVID-19 have been put up at the venue. There are wash basins at two ends and several hand sanitiser counters across the ground.

Apart from Union Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi, and ministers Srimanth Patil and MLA Mahesh Kumthalli, there were several leaders from the BJP, the Congress and the JD(S) who attended the marriage. There were some officers from the city corporation and district administration among the guests.

The Chief Minister arrived around 11 a.m. and stayed for nearly an hour at the venue. He left after wishing the couple and greeting some leaders.

On his arrival, at the Sambra airport, Mr. Yediyurappa said the State was well-equipped to handle the spread of the infection. “Over one lakh have been tested. Among the 100 suspected cases, the virus was detected only in six persons. One person has died. But otherwise the situation is under control. Officers are working round the clock,’’ he said.

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