Genabhai Dargabhai Patel: Anar Dada Divyang farmer, who singlehandedly transformed drought hit border dist. The only two actors honoured with the Padma Shri are Sadhu Meher from Odisha - who acted in the 1974 Hindi film 'Ankur - and Bharathi Vishnuvardhan from Karnataka. The journalists among the awardees include Bhawana Somaaya, Vishnu Pandya and NRI H R Shah.The Padma selection committee has tried to maintain a regional balance, ensuring that the awards are equitably distributed across states this year, an officer said. There is a significant drop in the number of Delhi-based awardees.Among the Padma awardees are 15 ordinary people known to have made a difference with their rare talent, innovation and contribution to the cause of nation-building.For instance,was conferred the Padma Vibhushan, for practising the ancient art form said to be at the root of Chinese martial arts. Chintakindi Mallesham, a school drop-out who invented the Laxmi ASU machine, has got the Padma Shri in the category 'science and engineering'.

Source: Times of India January 25, 2017 15:58 UTC