Mashelkar, BKS Iyengar get Padma Vibhushan

Noted scientist R A Mashelkar and Yoga Guru B K S Iyengar were today chosen for this year's Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour, while cine star Kamala Haasan, author Ruskin Bond and late former Chief Justice J S Verma were selected for Padma Bhushan.
National Badminton coach P Gopichand, Tennis player Leander Paes, writer Anita Desai and Tamil lyricist and writer Vairamuthu were also picked for Padma Bhushan while cricketer Yuvraj Singh and cine stars Paresh Rawal and Vidya Balan were selected for Padma Shri.
In all, the government announced 127 Padma awards which had no Bharat Ratna this time with cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and noted scientist C N R Rao having been named for this top civilian honour only two months ago.

The list included 2 Padma Vibhushans, 24 Padma Bhushans and 101 Padma Shri awardees. They included 27 women and seven foreigners which included NRIs and PIOs.
Three awardees got the honour in the posthumous category and they included N A Dabholkar, an anti-superstition campaigner who was shot dead in Pune last year.
The Padma Shri awardees also included Union Minister Sharad Pawar's brother Pratap Govindrao Pawar.
The 71-year-old Mashelkar, a former Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), had played a crucial role in evolving science and technology policies in post-liberalised India.
95-year-old Iyengar, who was named once by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential persons, had spread yoga across the globe including in countries like China.