Odisha’s Puppeteer Maguni Charan Kumar Receives Padma Shri

Bhubaneswar: Odia Puppeteer Maguni Charan Kuanr of Keonjhar district received the prestigious Padma Shri award from President Droupadi Murmu during a special event held in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Kuanr was conferred with the prestigious award for devoting his life to preserving a dying art like puppet dance. Notably, Krishna Patel, a singer; Antaryami Mishra, a litterateur and Pattayat Sahu, a farmer from Odisha were shortlisted for the conferment of the 2023 Padma Awards.

President Droupadi Murmu conferred 52 Padma Awards for the year 2023, at a Civil Investiture Ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan. She conferred two Padma Vibhushan, four Padma Bhushan, and 46 Padma Shri awards.

President Murmu presented Padma Vibhushan to S M Krishna in the field of Public Affairs. Padma Vibhushan was also conferred on Prof Balkrishna Doshi (Posthumously) in the field of Architecture.

The President presented Padma Bhushan to Kamlesh D Patel in the field of Spiritualism. He is the founder of the Heartfulness Movement and has developed Kanha Shanti Vanam, which is home to one of the world’s largest meditation centres.

She presented Padma Bhushan to Kapil Kapoor in the field of Literature and Education. He is known for striving to indigenise higher education by integrating Indian knowledge systems and establishing dedicated Institutes. Suman Kalyanpur received Padma Bhushan in the field of Art and Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group – Kumar Mangalam Birla in the field of Trade and Industry.

President Murmu also conferred Padma Shri awards on Chintalapati Venkatapathi Raju, Bandi Ramakrishna Reddy, Mangala Kanta Roy, Manoranjan Sahu, Kota Satchidananda Sastry, Gurcharan Singh, G. Veluchamy, Karma Wangchu, Laxman Singh, Prakash Chandra Sood, Neihunuo Sorhie, S. Subbaraman, Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari, Dhaniram Toto and Ghulam Mohammad Zaz among others.