Vol. 65 No. 230 | WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 26, 2022 | 2 1 P a g e s | SEBI NOTIFIES STRICT NORMS FOR MD POST AT LISTED FIRMS RAWAT, KALYAN, ATRE GET PADMA VIBHUSHAN Notable in the honours list Vaccine maker Cyrus Poonawalla Dr Krishna Ella & wife Suchitra Ella of Bharat Biotech Politicians Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Congress & Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of the CPI(M) Tech whiz kids Sunder Pichai & Satya Narayana Nadella BUDDHADEB SAYS 'NO' F CELEBRATE, SURELY, BUT ALSO MEET CHALLENGES THE INDIAN FILM INDUSTRY REFLECTS ON WHY REPUBLIC DAY IS SUPER SPECIAL FROM OUR BUREAU New Delhi The late Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, who died in a helicopter mishap, and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and former Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh have been awarded posthumously the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian award. Two others who have got this award are Ms Prabha Atre from Maharashtra in art and the late Radheyshyam Khemka of Uttar Pradesh in literature and education. The third highest award -- the Padma Bhushan -- has been awarded to 17 personalities in different walks of life, including former ARITRA SINGHA/ Kolkata: EDIT ormer West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has refused to accept the Padma Bhushan award which was to be conferred on him on Republic Day In a press statement, he claimed that he . is not aware that he is being honoured, but if that were so, he is refusing it. “I have no idea whether the award was being given to me, as nobody had told me anything about it. If I am being conferred the award, then I am refusing it,” said Bhattacharjee in a press statement. Incidentally Bhattachar, jee was chosen for the award for his contribution in Public Affairs from West Bengal. It may be recalled that in 2008 another former Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu, had refused to accept the Bharat Ratna award. Ace singer Sandhya Mukherjee, too, has refused to accept her Padma Shri award. She is miffed as she was told about the award two days before the formal announcement. “I am not physically fit. What took them so long to give me an award? It is an insult to me. I am happy however, that I could entertain people for so many years and that is enough for me,” said Sandhya. It is pertinent to mention that ace Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee had also refused to accept the Padma Shri award. TEN AWARDEES FROM MAHARASHTRA T here are in all 10 Padma Awardees from Maharashtra from art, trade and industry, medicine and science and engineering. Renowned classical vocalist Dr Parbha Atre of the Kirana Gharana has been awarded the Padma Vibhushan which she dedicated to her parents, mentors and audience for their guidance and support. SEE INSIDE Rajya Sabha Opposition leader Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Congress. (Azad has been a part of the churning within the party and has been calling for a more accountable leaadership). Another 107 have been awarded the Padma Shri award. Among the Padma winners are 34 women, 13 posthumous and 10 foreigners or NRIs. The other Padma Bhushan award winners are Ms Gurmeet Bawa (posthumous) from Punjab; Victor Banerjee from West Bengal; former West Bengal chief minister Buddhdeb Bhattacharjee of the CPI(M) and Rajiv Mehrishi, a Rajasthan cadre IAS officer who rose to become the Union home secretary and the CAG. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Rahul crony is big BJP catch OUR BUREAU New Delhi Former Union Minister of State and a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, RPN Singh (57), from Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday quit the Congress party and joined the BJP . This is a big jolt to the Congress since he was also a member of the Congress Working Committee. RPN was also party in-charge of Jhararkhand and his name figured in the list of 30 star campaigners for UP assembly polls. HOLIDAY NOTICE The Free Press Journal will observe a holiday on January 26 on account of Republic Day; its offices will be closed on Wednesday and there will be no city edition on Thursday . In a tweet, Singh said: "Today, at a time, we are celebrating the formation of our great Republic, I begin a new chapter in my political journey This is a new beginning . for me and I look forward to my contribution to nationbuilding under the visionary leadership and guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President JP Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah." He is likely to be fielded from an Assembly seat – probably Padrauna -- in the Kushinagar Lok Sabha con- stituency which he had won in 2009. RPN has also represented Padrauna four times in the UP Assembly . However, he faced defeat in the 2014 and 2019 parliament elections. RPN was perceived to be among the leaders who would be part of Rahul Gandhi's future Congress. Hailing from the royal family of Sainthwar in Kushinagar, he is known as Raja Saheb of Padrauna. The BJP sources said he commands great respect in Kushinagar and may be field- ed from Padrauna against Samajwadi Party's Swami Prasad Maurya, who quit recently as a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government. On Tuesday RPN Singh sent , his resignation letter to Congress national president Sonia Gandhi and joined BJP in the evening. He was not happy with the party for the last few months; he was not attending party meetings in UP and was last seen in the Gorakhpur rally of Priyanka Gandhi two months back. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE leged parties at Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office at 10 Downing Street. Johnson is facing fresh allegations in the ongoing "partygate" scandal, as de- tails emerged of a surprise 56th birthday cake "party", organised for him at the peak of the first COVID lockdown in June 2020. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE UK PM faces Scotland Yard probe LAST WORD T ADITI KHANNA / London he Scotland Yard has launched a criminal investigation into lockdown breaches related to al- 270c. 160c. Sunrise: 07:14 am Sunset : 06:28 pm 7 MBBS students killed in mishap SANJAY JOG Mumbai In a tragic incident, seven MBBS students, including the son of a BJP legislator died early on Tuesday after the car in which they were travelling fell into the Bhadari river near Selsura village in Wardha district, about 77 km from Nagpur. According to Wardha Superintendent of Police Prashant Holkar, the seven students died on the spot. Police said they were returning from neighbouring Yavatmal district after celebrating a birthday party when one of them who was at the wheel, lost control and rammed into a bridge. The SUV fell into the river and was crushed to a pulp by the impact of the crash. According to police, villagers had revealed that the student who was driving the SUV is believed to have swerved to avoid hitting a wild animal that apparently came in front of the vehicle. The SUV then fell into a ditch under a culvert. All the deceased were students of the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, said the OSD of the Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr Abhyuday Meghe. One among the deceased students was Avishkar Rahangdale, 22, son of Vijay Rahangdale, the BJP MLA from Tiroda in Gondia district. The other deceased were identified as Niteesh Singh, Vivek Nandan, Pratyush Singh, Shubham Jaiswal, Niraj Chauhan and Pavan Shakti. One of the deceased was a medical intern. Of the remaining six, two each were studying in the final year, third year and first year,” police said. All the bodies were later sent to the Wardha civil hospital for post mortem. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE