Padma awards for 2011

NEW DELHI: The government has received nomination of 1,303 names for the three categories of top civilian awards for 2011. An RTI reply from the home ministry has revealed that the list has names of a chief minister and another ex-chief minister for the Padma Awards for their literary works and achievement in the field of instrumental music.

The RTI was filed by activist Subhash Aggarwal. The ministry has received maximum nominations under the categories of social work, health and medicine, science and engineering besides 156 Indians living abroad.

Uttarakhand chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal who is popularly known as 'Nishank' in his home state for his literary works has been nominated under literature and education category. Similarly, former Orissa chief minister Giridhar Gamang has been nominated under the 'instrumental music' category.

The government has also received nominations of Satyendra Dubey and Manjunath Sanmugham, who were murdered for fighting against corruption. Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, fashion designer Ritu Beri and shooter Tejaswami Sawant are few of the prominent names who have been nominated for the Padma Awards, which would be announced on the eve of Republic Day. The list also includes names of Bollywood stars Jaya Prada, Priyanka Chopra and Salman Khan.