Padma Vibhushan to Dhirubhai Ambani honours indomitable spirit of Indian entrepreneurship: Mukesh

Legendary entrepreneur Dhirubhai Ambani has been named for this year's Padma Vibhushan award, India's second highest civilian honour, for his "exceptional and distinguished" service to trade and industry.

The Home ministry said Ambani is the only person chosen for the Padma Vibhushan this year under this category. In a total of 112 Padma awardees this year, there are 10 Padma Vibhushan winners.

Founder of Reliance Industries Limited Dhirubhai Ambani in a file phote. AFP

"The Padma Vibhushan awarded to Shri Dhirubhai Ambani is an honour to the indomitable spirit of Indian entrepreneurship, innovation and ambition to always do better than the best in the world," said Reliance Industries chairman and managing director, Mukesh Ambani.

Saying that it was a very proud day for him and the one lakh-plus employees of Reliance family, Mukesh Ambani said, "We take this opportunity to rededicate ourselves and to contributing to building a modern and self-reliant India in which all our citizens are assured equal opportunity to attain their fullest potential."

"On behalf of the Reliance family, we express our grateful thanks to the Government of India for the recognition awarded to Shri Dhirubhai Ambani for his contribution to the nation," Mukesh Ambani said.

Dhirubhai Ambani's younger son Anil Ambani, who oversees the Reliance Group, said the honour is a recognition of Indian entrepreneurship.

"I personally, and the entire Reliance family, are truly overwhelmed and deeply humbled at the award of this great national honour, the Padma Vibhushan, for the greatest entrepreneur and wealth creator in the history of India, my beloved father, Shri Dhirubhai Ambani," Anil Ambani said.

"The true legacy of Dhirubhai lies in the inspiration that he continues to provide to millions of young people, who are dreaming impossible dreams, and setting out to achieve their entrepreneurial ambitions."

"In his lifetime, Dhirubhai created and shared more wealth with Indians than anyone before or since," Anil said.

Dhirubhai Ambani, along with construction magnate Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry, Maruti Udyog chairman RC Bhargava, Sun Pharmaceutical founder Dilip Shanghvi and MasterCard chief executive Ajaypal S Banga are among those chosen for this year's highest civilian awards.

The ‘Padma Shri’ is awarded for distinguished service in any field, all 3 award categories are conferred by the President of India at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, usually in March-April, every year. A total of 112 personalities have bagged the Padma Awards comprising of 10 Padma Vibhushan, 19 Padma Bhushan and 83 Padma Shri awardees. While 19 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of foreigners, NRIs, PIOs (include one posthumous) and 4 Posthumous awardees. Three of the Padma awardees are from Gujarat, reports The Indian Express.

Padma awards for Rajinikanth, Sania Mirza

Superstar Rajinikanth, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and media baron Ramoji Rao have also been chosen for the Padma Vibhushan this year.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Jagmohan, former DRDO chief V K Aatre, cancer specialist and chairperson of Adyar Cancer Institute Dr V Shanta and eminent Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi dancer Yamini Krishnamurthi and classical vocalist Girija Devi and Indian—American economist Avinash Dixit have also been named for the Padma Vibhushan.

Noted actor Anupam Kher, singer Udit Narayan, former CAG Vinod Rai, chairperson of media group Bennett, Coleman & Co. Indu Jain, sports star Sania Mirza and Saina Nehwal, spiritual leaders late Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Swami Tejomayananda and former US Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill are among the 19 chosen for Padma Bhushan.

Industrialist Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry, Maruti Suzuki chairman R C Bhargava and eminent architect Hafeez Contractor also figure in the list of Padma Bhushan awardees.

Senior lawyer Ujjwal Nikam, who was the prosecution counsel in the Mumbai terror attack case, actors Ajay Devgn and Priyanka Chopra get Padma Shri.

The complete list:

Padma Vibhushan: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Rajinikanth, Dhirubhai Ambani, Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi dancer Yamini Krishnamurthi, classical vocalist Girija Devi, media baron Ramoji Rao, cancer specialist Dr Vishwanathan Shanta, former Jammu and Kashmir governor Jagmohan, former Defence Research and Development Organisation chief Vasudev Kalkunte Aatre (science and engineering) and Indian-American economist Avinash Dixit.

Padma Bhushan: Udit Narayan Jha (art-playback singing), Ram V. Sutar (art-sculpture), Heisnam Kanhailal (art-theatre), Dr Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad (literature and education), Prof N.S. Ramanuja Tatacharya (literature and education), Dr Barjinder Singh Hamdard (literature and education - journalism), Prof D. Nageshwar Reddy (medicine-gastroenterology), Swami Tejomayananda (other-spiritualism), Hafeez Contractor (others-architecture), Ravindra Chandra Bhargava (public affairs), Dr Venkata Rama Rao Alla (science and engineering), Indu Jain (trade and industry), Robert Blackwill (public affairs) and Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry (trade and industry), former chief vigilance commissioner Vinod Rai, actor Anupam Kher, sportspersons Saina Nehwal and Sania Mirza and late spiritual leader Swami Dayanand Saraswati.

Padma Shri: Prathibha Prahlad (art-classical dance), Bhikhudan Gadhvi (art-folk music), Sribhas Chandra Supakar (art-textile designing), Ajay Devgn (art-cinema), Priyanka Chopra (art-cinema), Pt. Tulsidas Borkar (art-classical music), Dr Soma Ghosh (art-classical vocal), Nila Madhab Panda (art-film direction and production), S.S. Rajamouli (art-film direction and production), Madhur Bhandarkar (art-film direction and production), Prof M. Venkatesh Kumar (Art-Folk Artist), Gulabi Sapera (art-folk dance), Mamta Chandrakar (art-folk music), Malini Awasthi (art-folk music), Jai Prakash Lekhiwal (art-miniature painting), K. Laxma Goud (art-painting), Bhalchandra Dattatray Mondhe (art-photography), Naresh Chander Lal (art-theatre and cinema), Dhirendra Nath Bezbaruah (literature and education), Prahlad Chandra Tasa (literature and education), Dr Ravindra Nagar (literature and education), Dahyabhai Shastri (literature and education), Santeshivara Bhyrappa (literature and education), Haldar Nag (literature and education), Kameshwaram Brahma (literature and education-journalism), Prof Pushpesh Pant (literature and education-journalism), Jawaharlal Kaul (literature and education-journalism), Ashok Malik (literature and education), Dr Mannam Gopi Chand (medicine-cardiothoracic surgery), Prof Ravi Kant (medicine-surgery), Prof Ram Harsh Singh (medicine-ayurveda), Prof Shiv Narain Kureel (medicine-paediatric surgery), Dr Sabyasachi Sarkar (medicine-radiology), Dr Alla Gopala Krishna Gokhale (medicine-cardiac surgery), Prof T.K. Lahiri (medicine-cardiothoracic surgery), Dr Praveen Chandra (medicine-cardiology), Prof Daljeet Singh Gambhir (medicine-cardiology), Dr Chandrasekar Shesadri Thoguluva (medicine-gastroenterology), Dr Anil Kumari Malhotra (medicine-homeopathy), Prof M.V. Padma Srivastava (medicine-neurology), Dr Sudhir V. Shah (medicine-neurology), Dr M.M. Joshi (medicine-ophthalmology), Prof (Dr) John Ebnezar (medicine-orthopaedic surgery), Dr Nayudamma Yarlagadda (medicine-paediatric surgery), Shri Simon Oraon (other-environment conservation), Imitiaz Qureshi (other-culinary), Piyush Pandey (others-advertising and communication), Subhash Palekar (others-farming), Ravinder Kumar Sinha (others-wildlife conservation), Dr H.R. Nagendra (others-yoga), M.C. Mehta (public affairs), M.N. Krishna Mani (public affairs), Ujjwal Nikam (public affairs), Tokheho Sema (public affairs), Dr Satish Kumar (science and engineering), Dr Mylswamy Annadurai (science and engineering), Prof Dipankar Chatterji (science and engineering), Prof (Dr) Ganapati Dadasaheb Yadav (science and engineering), Prof Veena Tandon (science and engineering), Onkar Nath Srivastava (science and engineering) Ms Sunita Krishnan (social work), Ajoy Kumar Dutta (social work), M. Pandit Dasa (social work), P.P. Gopinathan Nair (social work), Madeleine Herman de Blic (social work), Srinivasan Damal Kandalai (social work), Sudhakar Olwe (social work) Dr T.V. Narayana (social work), Arunachalam Murugantham (social work), Deepika Kumari (sports-archery), Sushil Doshi (sports-commentary), Mahesh Sharma (trade and industry), Saurabh Srivastava (trade and industry), Dilip Sanghvi (trade and industry), Dr Keki Hormusji Gharda (trade and industry), late Prakash Chand Surana (posthumous) (art-classical music), late Saeed Jaffrey (art-cinema), Michael Postel (art-archaeology), Salman Amin Sal Khan (literature and education), Hui Lan Zhang (others-yoga), Predrag K. Nikic (others-yoga), Dr Sundar Aditya Menon (social work) and Ajaypal Singh Banga (trade and industry).

With PTI, IANS

(Disclosure: Firstpost is part of Network18 Media & Investment Limited which is owned by Reliance Industries Limited.)