Padma awards make Telugus proud

New Delhi: Eight Telugus figure in the list of Padma awards announced by the central government on Wednesday in recognition of their distinguished contribution in various spheres.

The eight Telugus, who were given Padma Shri awards are Dr Prof Aekka Yadagiri Rao (Art-Sculpture), Tripuraneni Hanuman Chowdary (Civil Service), Dr Mohammed Abdul Waheed (Medicine), Mohan Reddy Venkatrama Bodanapu (Trade and Industry), Daripalli Ramaiah (Social Work - Tree plantation), Chandrakanth Pithawa (Science & Engineering), Chintakindi Mallesham (Science & Technology) and Dr V Koteswaramma (Literature and Education).

Aekka Yadagiri Rao, designer of the Telangana Martyrs Memorial, is renowned sculptor and a skillful carver. He is one of the most prominent among the first generation artists of South India who opted for sculpting and received national fame by winning awards and appreciations by the leading critics.

He is the only sculptor of Telangana State who did several State–sponsored commotions of great socio-political importance, carved huge stone blocks and assembled even larger metal objects. Yadagiri Rao, retired as Professor, Department of Sculptor, Collage of Fine Arts, Jawaharlal Nehru Technical University (JNTU), Hyderabad.

Daripalli Ramaiah is a man on mission to plant trees and bring back the green cover.

People say he has planted over a crore trees. Tripuraneni Hanuman Chowdary initiated the restructuring of the DOT, first by its separation from the Posts and constituting the operations into corporations. He was the first and founding Chairman and Managing Director of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), India’s International Telecommunications Corporation.

He has drafted an alternative Indian Telecom Law in 1992, to replace the Indian Telegraphs Act, 1885, and submitted it as an alternative report of the Government of India’s High Power Committee (of which he was a member) to amend the Indian Telegraph Act.

He also drafted the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Bill, which has become the basis for the final TRAI Act. Dr Mohammed Abdul Waheed is a dermatology specialist in Hyderabad with an experience of 25 years. Nasscom Chairman BVR Mohan Reddy's focus areas include making the IT industry body more "inclusive" by adding small and medium enterprises and start-ups to the executive council. He is Cyient founder and Executive Chairman.

Chintakindi Mallesham was born in a small village of handloom weavers, Sharjipet . Mallesham developed and fitted mechanical devices to a wooden frame to make weaving easy for women. The quality that came out was better than the hand woven Asu process.

The Architect of Montessori Mahila Kalasala, Vijayawada, Dr V.Koteswaramma is an educationist par excellence, an able administrator, an inspiring teacher and a prolific writer. She is recipient of a great number of prestigious national and international awards.

Chandrkanth Pithawa is a retired distinguished scientist and Director, Electronics & Instrumentation Group, BARC, Trombay. His major professional contributions include computer-based embedded control systems for Kaiga-1&2, RAPP-3&4 and TAPP-3&4 nuclear power plants, Dhruva Research Reactor and High Temperature Fission Detectors & Ultrasonic camera for under sodium scanning for PFBR.

Servo Control systems and gamma camera electronics for large MACE telescope, computerbased control systems for many other critical applications.