Hyderabad: Reigning badminton world champion P.V. Sindhu on Saturday was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, while organic farmer Chintala Venkat Reddy and noted Sanskrit poet Sribhas-hyam Vijayasarathi have been included in the Padma Shri honours list.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Sindhu said: “I am honoured to get this award and am indebted to the sports authorities of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. This is an inspiration to work hard and achieve bigger laurels.”
Mr Chintala Venkat Reddy has been an agriculturist for 20 years and is working on fertiliser-free methods for farming.
“Will anybody believe that if I say that an insect or a pest would die with the help of soil? I have proved it using my methods. People are being made to eat poisonous food which is derived from over use of fertilisers, instead of using natural methods,” Mr Reddy told Deccan Chronicle.
He added that his methods had got an international patent in 2004, for the enhancement of nutrient quality of the soil. Recognising his work, the then US President George Bush had met him in 2006.
He said that it took 20 years for the government to recognise his work but wishes there is increased awareness regarding his method of farming.
Sribhashyam Vijaya-sarathi, born in 1936. is known as a Mandakini poet and earned a name among the modernists in Sanskrit. He had his primary education in Urdu medium.
He started composing poetry at the age of seven. He composed the Sharda Padakinkini at the age of 11. He has many books to his credit. He established the ‘Sar-vavaidika Samsthanam’ in 1980 in Karimnagar to spread Vedic knowledge and the use of Sanskrit.
