new delhi • Corporate India was big in the Padma awards this year as were literary personalities with Bharti Telecom chief Sunil Bharti Mittal and HSBC India CEO Naina Kidwai rubbing shoulders with the likes of celebrity authors Vikram Seth and Amitava Ghosh.

Mittal was chosen for the Padma Bhushan as was former Tata Steel managing director Jamshed J Irani. And Kidwai was awarded the Padma Shri along with Indian Institute of Managament-Ahmedabad Director Bakul Dholakia and Nasscom chief Kiran Karnik.

In all, 121 Padma awards were announced on the eve of the Republic Day here by President A P J Abdul Kalam. These included 10 Padma Vibhushans, 32 Padma Bhushans and 79 Padma Shri awards.

The announcement of the awards was inordinately delayed, leading to speculation that a last-minute hitch over choice of nominees could have held up the list. Rashtrapati Bhavan sources made it clear that president had to clear the Padma file very late on Thursday after finishing the banquet with visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin.

For the sixth straight year the government did not announce any Bharat Ratna, the nation’s highest civilian honour.

Pepsico’s Indian-born Chief Executive Indra Nooyi, American economist Jeffrey D Sachs and Japanese industrialist O Suzuki were also chosen for Padma Bhushan awards, indicating the increasing recognition of contribution of business and economy sector.

In addition, were a number of other professionals from the field of medicine, science and engineering. Renowned economist Raja J Chelliah, known for his stellar role in India’s tax reforms, was awarded Padma Vibhushan.

Sharing the Padma Vibhushan, the country’s second highest civilian awards, with him were jurist Fali S Nariman, writer Khushwant Singh, former cabinet secretary Naresh Chandra, former chief justice of India P N Bhagwati, former home secretary N N Vohra, Balu Sankaran for medicine, late author Raja Rao, former bureaucrat V Krishnamurthy and US-based Sudarshan Erinackal Chandy George for science and engineering.

However, literary personalities perhaps constituted the single largest chunk. Besides Khushwant Singh, the other prominent writers were poet Gopaldas Neeraj and lyricist-poet Javed Akhtar who got the Padma Bhushan. Bestseller English authors Amitav Ghosh and Vikram Seth were given the Padma Shri.

An interesting inclusion was civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad, who has tirelessly fought for victims of communal violence, for the Padma Shri. In the fields of music and culture were Padma Bhushan awardees, vocalists Rajan and Sajan Misra and artists Syed Haider Raza and Tyeb Mehta.

The Padma Shri awardees were choreographer Astad Deboo, Malayalam actor Balachandra Menon, singer Remo Fernandes and Delhi-based dancer Geeta Chandran. Sports luminaries getting the Padma Shri were golfer Jeev Milkha Singh and chess prodigy Koneru Humpy.