Five Kannadigas chosen for Padma Shri

Bengaluru: 112 achievers from the country including five from Karnataka have been chosen for Padma awards. Four have won Padma Bhushan, 14 have been selected for Padma Vibhushan, with the remaining 94 being selected for Padma Shri awards, announced the union government.

The five achievers selected from Karnataka for Padma Shri include Saalumarada Timmakka (social service), Rohini Godbole (physics professor) , Sharada Srinivasan (physics professor), Pandit Rajeev Taranath (Sarod player) and Prabhu Deva (dance choreographer).

Saalumarada Thimmakka (108) who has no offspring of her own, planted trees on the roadside and looked them after like her own children. She has planted thousands of trees at her own expense on state highway 94 between Kudoor and Hulikal.

Rohini Godbole (67) is a professor in the high energy physics centre of Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru. Being the divisional head of Indian Academy of Sciences, she encouraged women to contribute more and more in the fields of science and technology. She has presented over 150 research papers.

Sharada Srinivasan (53) works as professor in archaeology in the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bengaluru. She has greatly contributed to the field of scientific studies of ancient arts.

Pandit Rajeev Taranath (86) is the only Sarod artiste from south India to have won global recognition.  Besides being a musical scholar, he also is a gifted music director.

Prabhu Deva (45) who was born in Mysuru district is a national award winning dance choreographer. He is also an actor, director, producer, lyricist and a singer.