Category: Amazing Feats

** Six Army men honoured with Shaurya Chakra for gallantry

Olympics gold medallist Neeraj Chopra awarded Param Vishisht Seva Medal

Olympic gold medallist Subedar Neeraj Chopra was named for the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) on the eve of Republic Day, while six Army personnel, five of them posthumously, have been selected for the Shaurya Chakra, the third highest peacetime gallantry award, by the President and Supreme Commander of the Indian armed forces, Ram Nath Kovind.

Full list of Padma Awards 2022

A Defence Ministry statement said: “The President has approved awards of 384 Gallantry and other defence decorations to armed forces personnel and others on the eve of 73rd Republic Day celebrations.”

These include 12 Shaurya Chakras, 29 PVSMs, four Uttam Yudh Seva Medals, 53 Ati Vishisht Seva Medals, 13 Yudh Seva Medals, 125 Vishisht Seva Medals, 84 Sena Medals (Gallantry), two Vayu Sena Medals (Gallantry), 40 Sena Medals (Devotion to Duty), eight Nao Sena Medals (Devotion to Duty), and 14 Vayu Sena Medals (Devotion to Duty).

Subedar Neeraj Chopra won the Olympic gold in javelin at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. He enrolled in the 4th battalion of the Rajputana Rifles as a direct entry Naib Subedar on May 15, 2016.

Awarded for distinguished service of exceptional order, the PVSM is mostly awarded to officers of the Lieutenant General rank and equivalent, and rarely to officers of lower ranks, and even less so to Junior Commissioned Officers.

Also read: Gen. Rawat, Kalyan Singh awarded Padma Vibhushan

The five personnel conferred Shaurya Chakra posthumously are Naib Subedar M. Sreejith and Sepoy Maruprolu Jaswanth Kumar Reddy from the 17 Madras Regiment; Havildar Anil Kumar Tomar from the Rajput Regiment; Havildar Kashiray Bammanalli from the Corps of Engineers and with the 44 Rashtriya Rifles (RR); and Havildar Pinku Kumar from the Jat Regiment and with the 34 RR.

The sixth Shaurya Chakra awardee is Rifleman Rakesh Sharma, 5 Assam Rifles.

All the six personnel have been awarded the Shaurya Chakra for their role in counter-insurgency operations, of which all five personnel awarded posthumously were for operations in Jammu and Kashmir and along the Line of Control (LoC).

The sixth Shaurya Chakra awardee, Rifleman Sharma, was part of an ambush that took place after receiving information on the movement of insurgents for extortion and killing of civilians in a village in Assam in May 2021.

In addition, the President has awarded one President’s Tatrakshak Medal (PTM), three Tatrakshak Medals (TM) and one TM for meritorious service to Coast

** Google to invest up to $1 billion in a partnership with Airtel

The amount will include equity investment as well as a corpus for potential commercial agreements

Bharti Airtel and Google on Friday, January 28, 2022, said that they will partner on a long-term, multi-year agreement to accelerate the growth of India’s digital ecosystem, under which Google intends to invest up to USD 1 billion.

The amount is part of the USD 10 billion ‘Google for India Digitization Fund’, which was announced by CEO of Google and Alphabet Sundar Pichai in 2020, and will include equity investment as well as a corpus for potential commercial agreements, to be identified and agreed on mutually agreeable terms over the course of the next five years, the companies said in a statement.

** India to convert 150 villages into ‘Villages of Excellence’ with technical help from Israel: Tomar

The Israel government has established 29 Centre of Excellence (CoEs) in 12 States

The Centre on Friday said it has decided to convert as many as 150 villages into ‘Villages of Excellence’ in 12 States with technical assistance from the Israel government.

Already, the Israel government has established 29 Centre of Excellence (CoEs) in 12 States, which are producing more than 25 million vegetable plants, over 3,87,000 quality fruit plants and can train more than 1.2 lakh farmers per year.

The 150 villages that are located around CoEs will be converted into ‘Villages of Excellence.’ “Out of which, 75 villages are being taken up in the first year to commemorate the 75th year of India’s independence, where India and Israel will work together,” Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar conveyed in a meeting with new Israeli Ambassador to India Naor Gilon on January 27 here.

The Minister expressed joy over the completion of 30 years of diplomatic relations between India and Israel and said that the government is satisfied with the functioning of 29 CoEs, according to an official statement.

The Ambassador of Israel, Mr. Gilon, said these CoEs are a great example of cooperation between the two countries and proposed the certification of CoEs to further enhance the standards and quality of services being provided to the farmers.

** Full list of Padma Awards 2022

In 2022, the President has approved conferment of 128 Padma Awards including 2 duo case

The Padma Awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March/ April every year.

In 2022, the President has approved conferment of 128 Padma Awards including 2 duo case (in a duo case, the Award is counted as one) as per list below. The list comprises 4 Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 107 Padma Shri Awards. 34 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 13 Posthumous awardees.

Padma Vibhushan (4)

NameFieldState/Country
Ms. Prabha AtreArtMaharashtra
Shri Radheyshyam Khemka (Posthumous)Literature and EducationU.P.
General Bipin Rawat (Posthumous)Civil ServiceUttarakhand
Shri Kalyan Singh (Posthumous)Public AffairsUttar Pradesh

Padma Bhushan (17)

NameFieldState/Country
Shri Ghulam Nabi AzadPublic AffairsJammu and Kashmir
Shri Victor BanerjeeArtWest Bengal
Ms. Gurmeet Bawa (Posthumous)ArtPunjab
Shri Buddhadeb BhattacharjeePublic AffairsWest Bengal
Shri Natarajan ChandrasekaranTrade and IndustryMaharashtra
Shri Krishna Ella andSmt. Suchitra Ella* (Duo)Trade and IndustryTelangana
Ms. Madhur JafferyOthers-CulinaryUSA
Shri Devendra JhajhariaSportsRajasthan
Shri Rashid KhanArtUttar Pradesh
Shri Rajiv MehrishiCivil ServiceRajasthan
Shri Satya Narayana NadellaTrade and IndustryUSA
Shri Sundararajan PichaiTrade and IndustryUSA
Shri Cyrus PoonawallaTrade and IndustryMaharashtra
Shri Sanjaya Rajaram (Posthumous)Sci and EnggMexico
Ms. Pratibha RayLiterature and EducationOdisha
Swami SachidanandLiterature and EducationGujarat
Shri Vashishth TripathiLiterature ane EducationUttar Pradesh

Padma Shri (107)

NameFieldState/Country
Shri Prahlad Rai AgarwalaTrade and IndustryWest Bengal
Prof. Najma AkhtarLiterature and EducationDelhi
Shri Sumit AntilSportsHaryana
Shri T Senka AoLiterature and EducationNagaland
Ms. Kamalini Asthana andMs. Nalini Asthana* (Duo)ArtUttar Pradesh
Shri Subbanna AyyappanScience and EngineeringKarnataka
Shri J K BajajLiterature and EducationDelhi
Shri Sirpi BalasubramaniamLiterature and EducationTamil Nadu
Srimad Baba BaliaSocial WorkOdisha
Ms. Sanghamitra BandyopadhyayScience and EngineeringWest Bengal
Ms. Madhuri BarthwalArtUttarakhand
Shri Akhone Asgar Ali BasharatLiterature and EducationLadakh
Dr. Himmatrao BawaskarMedicineMaharashtra
Shri Harmohinder Singh BediLiterature and EducationPunjab
Shri Pramod BhagatSportsOdisha
Shri S Ballesh BhajantriArtTamil Nadu
Shri Khandu Wangchuk BhutiaArtSikkim
Shri Maria Christopher ByrskiLiterature and EducationPoland
Acharya ChandanajiSocial WorkBihar
Ms. Sulochana ChavanArtMaharashtra
Shri Neeraj ChopraSportsHaryana
Ms. Shakuntala ChoudharySocial WorkAssam
Shri Sankaranarayana Menon ChundayilSportsKerala
Shri S DamodaranSocial WorkTamil Nadu
Shri Faisal Ali DarSportsJ&K
Shri Jagjit Singh DardiTrade and IndustryChandigarh
Dr. Prokar DasguptaMedicineU.K.
Shri Aditya Prasad DashScience and EngineeringOdisha
Dr. Lata DesaMedicineGujarat
Shri Malji bhai DesaiPublic AffairsGujarat
Ms. Basanti DeviSocial WorkUttarakhand
Ms. Lourembam Bino DeviArtManipur
Ms. Muktamani DeviTrade and IndustryManipur
Ms. Shyamamani DeviArtOdisha
Shri Khalil Dhantejvi (Posthumous)Lit. and EducationGujarat
Shri Savaji Bhai DholakiaSocial WorkGujarat
Shri Arjun Singh DhurveArtMadhya Pradesh
Dr. Vijaykumar Vinayak DongreMedicineMaharashtra
Shri Chandraprakash DwivediArtRajasthan
Shri Dhaneswar EngtiLit. and EducationAssam
Shri Om Prakash GandhiSocial WorkHaryana
Shri Narasimha Rao GarikapatiLit. and EducationAndhra Pradesh
Shri Girdhari Ram Ghonju (Posthumous)Lit. and EducationJharkhand
Shri Shaibal Gupta (Posthumous)Lit. and EducationBihar
Shri Narasingha Prasad GuruLit. and EducationOdisha
Shri Gosaveedu Shaik Hassan (Posthumous)ArtAndhra Pradesh
Shri Ryuko HiraTrade and IndustryJapan
Ms. Sosamma IypeAnimal HusbandryKerala
Shri Avadh Kishore JadiaLit. and EducationMadhya Pradesh
Ms. Sowcar JanakiArtTamil Nadu
Ms. Tara JauharLit and EducationDelhi
Ms. Vandana KatariaSportsUttarakhand
Shri H R KeshavamurthyArtKarnataka
Shri Rutger KortenhorstLit and EducationIreland
Shri P Narayana KurupLit and EducationKerala
Ms. Avani LekharaSportsRajasthan
Shri Moti Lal MadanSci and EngineeringHaryana
Shri Shivnath MishraArtUttar Pradesh
Dr. Narendra Prasad Misra (Posthumous)MedicineMadhya Pradesh
Shri Darshanam MogilaiahArtTelangana
Shri Guruprasad Mohapatra (Posthumous)Civil ServiceDelhi
Shri Thavil Kongampattu A V MurugaiyanArtPuducherry
Ms. R MuthukannammalArtTamil Nadu
Shri Abdul Khader NadakattinGrassroots InnovationKarnataka
Shri Amai Mahalinga NaikAgricultureKarnataka
Shri Tsering NamgyalArtLadakh
Shri A K C NatarajanArtTamil Nadu
Shri V L NghakaLit. and EducationMizoram
Shri Sonu NigamArtMaharashtra
Shri Ram Sahay PandayArtMadhya Pradesh
Shri Chirapat PrapandavidyaLit and EducationThailand
Ms. K V RabiyaSocial WorkKerala
Shri Anil Kumar RajvanshiSci and EngineeringMaharashtra
Shri Sheesh RamArtUttar Pradesh
Shri RamachandraiahArtTelangana
Dr. Sunkara Venkata Adinarayana RaoMedicineAndhra Pradesh
Ms. Gamit Ramilaben RaysingbhaiSocial WorkGujarat
Ms. Padmaja ReddyArtTelangana
Guru Tulku RinpocheSpiritualismArunachal Pradesh
Shri Brahmanand SankhwalkarSportsGoa
Shri Vidyanand SarekLit and EducationHimachal Pradesh
Shri Kali Pada SarenLit. and EducationWest Bengal
Dr. Veeraswamy SeshiahMedicineTamil Nadu
Ms. Prabhaben ShahSocial WorkDadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu
Shri Dilip ShahaniLit and EducationDelhi
Shri Ram Dayal SharmaArtRajasthan
Shri Vishwamurti ShastriLit. and EducationJ&K
Ms. Tatiana Lvovna ShaumyanLit. and EducationRussia
Shri Siddhalingaiah (Posthumous)Lit. and EducationKarnataka
Shri Kaajee SinghArtWest Bengal
Shri Konsam Ibomcha SinghArtManipur
Shri Prem SinghSocial WorkPunjab
Shri Seth Pal SinghAgricultureUttar Pradesh
Ms. Vidya Vindu SinghLit. and EducationUttar Pradesh
Baba Iqbal Singh JiSocial WorkPunjab
Dr. Bhimsen SinghalMedicineMaharashtra
Shri SivanandaYogaUttar Pradesh
Shri Ajay Kumar SonkarSci and EngineeringUttar Pradesh
Ms. Ajita SrivastavaArtUttar Pradesh
Sadguru Brahmeshanand Acharya SwamiSpiritualismGoa
Dr. Balaji Tambe (Posthumous)MedicineMaharashtra
Shri Raghuvendra TanwarLit and EducationHaryana
Dr. Kamlakar TripathiMedicineUttar Pradesh
Ms. Lalita VakilArtHimachal Pradesh
Ms. Durga Bai VyamArtMadhya Pradesh
Shri Jyantkumar Maganlal VyasSci and EngineeringGujarat
Ms. Badaplin WarLit and EducationMeghalaya

Note: * In Duo case, the Award is counted as one.

** Celebrated IAS officer Guruprasad Mohapatra, who succumbed to COVID-19, conferred with Padma Shri

Guruprasad Mohapatra despite his own illness continued to work on distribution of oxygen when the pandemic was at its most dreadful.

Guruprasad Mohapatra, a senior bureaucrat known for his administrative acumen who succumbed to COVID-19 last year, was conferred with Padma Shri on Tuesday.

“I am very grateful that the government has recognised his contribution. I am very humbled by the gesture. There is sadness mixed with happiness on this occasion,” Anjali Mohapatra, the wife of the senior officer, told The Hindu.

** India celebrates its 73rd Republic Day

President Ram Nath Kovind honoured the proud winners of the highest gallantry, including the winners of Param Vir Chakra and Ashok Chakra

The national flag was unfurled on 73rd Republic Day at Rajpath followed by the National Anthem with a booming 21-gun salute on Wednesday.

According to the tradition, the 21-gun salute was presented by the ceremonial battery of 871 field regiment.

The ceremonial battery was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Jitender Singh Mehta.

* Bengaluru doctor writes crucial chapter in Comprehensive Textbook of Clinical Radiology

A doctor from a government medical college in the city has written an important chapter on ‘Imaging of Spleen’ in ‘Comprehensive Textbook of Clinical Radiology’, a first-of-its-kind reference book in the country, brought out by the National Indian Radiological and Imaging Association (IRIA).

Dr KR Vijaykumar, Professor and Head of the Department of Radiology, Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital, told The New Indian Express that it is a lifelong reference book for radiologists and was published recently by the prestigious Elsevier Publications in six volumes.

** Govt. announces Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar for 2022

The central government has instituted the annual award to recognise and honour the invaluable contribution and selfless service rendered by individuals and organisations in India in the field of disaster management.

The Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management (GIDM) and Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority’s Vice Chairman Vinod Sharma have been selected for the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar for 2022 for their excellent work in disaster management.

** Ex-Japan PM Shinzo Abe given Netaji Award 2022

Consul General of Japan in Kolkata Nakamura Yutaka received the honour on behalf of Mr. Abe

Former Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was conferred with the Netaji Award 2022 by Netaji Research Bureau on January 23.

Consul General of Japan in Kolkata Nakamura Yutaka received the honour on behalf of Mr. Abe at a function at the Elgin Road residence of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his 125th birth anniversary.

** All tunes of Indian origin at Beating Retreat in 75th year of Independence, says Government

16 marching contingents to take part in Republic Day parade

Responding to criticism over the dropping of the hymn ‘Abide with me’ from ‘Beating Retreat’ this year, government sources said this year being the 75th year of Independence, playing of Indian tunes is considered more appropriate.

“This year, only Indian origin/indigenous tunes are on the list,” a government source said on Sunday. ‘Abide with me’ will not be played this year so as to include the maximum number of Indian tunes, the source said.

Republic Day parade

At the Republic Day parade this year, there will be a total of 16 marching contingents, six from the Army, one each from the Navy and Air Force, four contingents from the Central Armed Police Forces, two from the National Cadet Corps, one from Delhi Police and one from the National Service Scheme, said Major General Alok Kackar, Chief of Staff, Delhi Area, in a briefing on the Army’s participation at the parade.

Due to the prevailing COVID-19 situation, like last year, this year too, the parade will end at the National Stadium and not go up to the Red Fort, as is usually done, he stated.