On Republic Day, the government announced the recipients of the prestigious Padma Shri Award. Among the 132 distinguished personalities who have been nominated for the Award, the list also featured a Rabindra Sangeet singer from Bangladesh and four French citizens.
Renowned Bangladesh Rabindra Sangeet singer, Rezwana Choudhary Bannya, has been selected by the government for the Padma Shri Award 2024. The singer is the only Bangladeshi citizen to be featured on the list. She has founded a music education institute and has authored several books on Rabindranath Tagore’s music. She was also a student at the Visva Bharati University. She has also been recognized by the West Bengal government for her contributions.
Along with Rezwana, four French citizens have also been nominated. Charlotte Chopin, a 100-year-old yoga practitioner, has also been nominated for the Padma Shri. She started to learn yoga after she turned 50. She has been teaching yoga since 1982. She also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year when he had visited France.
Coming to literature and education, Dr Pierre Sylvain Filliozat was also included in the list. He is a Sanskrit scholar and is also the founder of the French Institute on Indian Culture at Pondicherry. He was born in France and has a PhD in Alankara Sastra. He has studied the classical languages in Paris and Pondicherry.
Along with Dr Pierre Sylvain Filliozat, Fed Negrit was also conferred the Padma Shri for literature.
Kiran Vyas, the founder of the Tapovan Open University of Yoga and Ayurveda, has also made it to the list. He hails from Gujarat, but he moved to France to make Ayurveda popular in Europe. He has been in this field for 40 years now.
