Six from Gujarat in Padma awardee list, cardiologist Tejas Patel gets Padma Bhushan

Ahmedabad, Jan 26 (PTI) Six personalities from Gujarat figure in the list of Padma awardees announced by the Union government this year with cardiologist Tejas Patel being selected for Padma Bhushan.

Raghuvir Chaudhari, Harish Nayak, Dr Yazdi Italia, Jagdish Trivedi and Dr Dayal Parmar were chosen for the Padma Shri award.

Ahmedabad-based Dr Tejas Patel, an eminent cardiologist, is best known for groundbreaking achievements in the field of interventional cardiology. He has penned more than 300 research articles for national and international journals.

Patel is also known for his pioneering work in coronary angiography and interventions with transradial technique which make coronary interventions safer and more accurate.
Harish Nayak, who was awarded Padma Shri posthumously in the field of literature and education, was a novelist specially known for contribution to children’s literature. He was the editor of `Jhag-Mag’, a children’s magazine published by the Gujarat Samachar newspaper, and wrote several children’s books and made efforts to promote Gujarati children’s literature and stories.

Nayak, who started his career in the early 50s and passed away in October last year, wrote more than 2,000 stories and authored several books. Valsad-based Dr Yazdi Italia, who holds a Ph.D., is a translational scientist credited with creation of awareness about the wide prevalence of sickle cell anemia, an inherited blood disorder, among the tribals of southern Gujarat. Thanks to his advocacy, the Gujarat government started the Sickle Cell Anemia Control Program (SCACP) in 2006, the first such program in India which received the Prime Minister’s Award for a model project.

Reduction in morbidity and mortality due to sickle cell disorder in Gujarat is attributed to his efforts. Surendranagar-based Jagdish Trivedi is a humorist, author, poet and philanthropist. Trivedi, who holds a Ph.D., has so far given 3,000 performances across 28 countries and penned 72 books.

Seven of Trivedi’s books have received awards from the Gujarat Sahitya Academy and Gujarati Sahitya Parishad. He has translated Dr Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s “Madhushala” into Gujarati. Trivedi has also written scripts, screenplays and dialogue for Gujarati films and TV serials.

Raghuvir Chaudhari, selected for Padma Shri in the field of literature & education, did his M.A. in ‘Hindi language and literature’ from Gujarat University in 1962 and later obtained his Ph.D. from the same University in 1979. He retired in 1998 as a Professor and Head of the varsity’s Department of Hindi, Post-graduate School of Languages.

His literary work has received wide response. He was honored with the Sahitya Academy’s national award for his novel ‘Uparvas Kathatrai’ in 1977. Chaudhari’s literary works include novels, poetry, short stories, plays and columns in newspapers and magazines.

Dr Dayal Parmar, better known as Dayal Muniji, is a Sanskrit teacher, doctor and professor of Ayurvedic medicine, author and translator who hails from Tankara town of Morbi district.
An Arya Samaj follower, he has written more than 50 books. Many of his articles are published in newspapers and weeklies.

He was a professor of Ayurveda College, Jamnagar, and has written 18 treatises on Ayurveda which are recognized as reference books by the state ayurveda universities.