Lucknow, Jan 26 (PTI) Head coach of the Indian para-badminton team Gaurav Khanna and chikankari artist Naseem Bano are among the 12 recipients of the Padma Shri award from Uttar Pradesh for their contributions in various fields.
Speaking to PTI, Khanna said, “I got a phone call in the afternoon (of Thursday) informing me about the award. My endeavour will be to identify new players, improve India’s performance in Paralympics, and identify potential medal winners among physically-challenged children, whose parents think that they are a liability.” Bano, a resident of the Thakurganj area of Lucknow, said she started working on chikankari at a very young age and was trained by her father Hazan Mirza.
“Whatever I am today is because of the support of my family and the teachings given to me by my father,” she told PTI.
She is known for making fine chikan embroidery work popular in the Awadh region of the state.
Sharing her happiness on being conferred with one of the highest civilian awards of the country, Bano said, “I received a call from Delhi last night (Thursday) and I was informed that I have been awarded the Padma Shri award. Me and my entire family is elated over this achievement. We thank the government and god for this award.” “I have trained over 5,000 chikankari artisans in the art. I hope that they will safeguard this tradition and will take it forward,” she added.
Bano was awarded the state award in the year 1985. Apart from this, in 1988, the then President R Venkataraman presented her an award recognising her work, Bano said.
Dr Radha Krishna Dhiman, Director of Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), Lucknow is among the other Padma Shri recipients from the state.
Dr Dhiman is also serving as a hepatology professor at the institute. His academic and teaching career started in 1993 at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.
Among other Padma Shri awardees from Uttar Pradesh is Godavari Singh, a Varanasi-based craftsman who has been making wooden toys for several years and has contributed extensively to take the country’s wooden toy industry to an international level.
“I got the news last night. This is a proud moment… I would like to thank the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi), (Union Home Minister) Amit Shah and (UP Chief Minister) Yogi (Adityanath) ji. It has been 68 years. We focused on exports to enhance the business,” Singh told PTI.
Brass craftsman Babu Ram Yadav of Moradabad, one of the awardees in the art division, said he has been working with the metal since 1962.
“I learnt this work in a government institution. Our guru Shri Amar Singh ji was there. I learnt the work from him.” To a question about how the Padma Shri awards received by him and Dilshad Hussain last year would benefit the brass craft industry, Yadav said, “The industry will get a lot of encouragement through this. It will have great success in India and abroad if the Government of India keeps supporting us and if (Prime Minister) Shri Narendra Modi ji keeps standing with us.” The other awardees are Khalil Ahamad (art), Urmila Srivastava (art), Surendra Mohan Mishra (posthumous – art), Ram Chet Chaudhary (science and engineering), Radhey Shyam Pareek (medicine), Rajaram Jain (literature and education) and Navjeevan Rastogi (literature and education). PTI NAV CDN RPA
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