Gandhinagar: As per the list from the Home Ministry’s Padma Awards for this year has been announced, a total of seven Gujarati persons have been selected by the Ministry, including Swami Sachidanand who will receive the Padma Bhushan award.
Swami Sachidanand is a social reformer, humanitarian, philosopher and a welfare activist belonging to no “panth”. His religious work has been with an aim to uplift the human values and the whole society.
Apart from him, six noted Gujarati personalities have been selected for the Padma Shri award.
Savjibhai Dholakia, a noted diamond businessman from Surat, owns an empire with a turnover worth Rs 6,000 crore annually. He has been known for his corporate social responsibility activities.
The other Gujarati is Ramilaben Gamit, a member of the Taparwada gram panchayat in Gujarat’s Tapi district, who has also received the Swachh Shakti Puraskar from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making her village open defecation free.
The noted Gujarati literateur, Khalil Dhantejvi will be receiving the Padma Shri award posthumously. Born in 1935 in his village Dhantejvi, on which Khalil took his pen-name, Khalil Dhantejvi, died on April 4, 2021, at Vadodara.
Another noted Gujarati to receive the Padma Shri is Maljibhai Desai, who is known for his decades of service in water conservation.
Lata Desai from Society for Education Welfare and Action-Rural will be receiving the Padma Shri for services in rural community health.
Jayant Vyas will also receive the Padma Shri award as per the list announced by the Union Home Ministry.