Five NRIs named for Padma Shri

NEW DELHI - Five NRIs and people of Indian origin and three foreigners are among 84 people named for the Padma Shri honours Tuesday.

Azad Moopen, a renowned physician-turned-entrepreneur based in United Arab Emirates, has been named for the award for his distinguished service in social work

Moopen, founder and chairman D.M. Healthcare, has also received India’s top most honour for overseas Indians - the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award - for this year.

Renowned legal scholar Upendra Baxi who teaches at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom, been chosen for the honour in public and legal affairs category.

A former vice chancellor of Delhi University (1990-1994), Baxi has also taught at University of Sydney, Duke University, the American University, the New York University Law School Global Law Program, and the University of Toronto.

Indian-born American physicist Mani Lal Bhaumik, who is an author, lecturer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, has been given the honour in science and engineering category.

Subra Suresh, professor of engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US, will get the Padma Shri in the same category.

NRI Sat Pal Khattar, a Singapore-based businessman and the chairman of Khattar Holdings, a private investment firm, has got the honour in trade and industry category.

American linguist and Indologist Karl Harrington Potter, who has written the Encyclopaedia of Indian Philosophies, has been chosen in literature and education category.

Other Americans who have been awarded include lecturer in public policy at Kennedy School of Government, Martha Chen, and renowned authority on Indian constitutional law Granville Austin.

Chen has lived and worked in India and Bangladesh for 15 years working on women’s right to employment.