MANAPPURAM HONOURS USTAD AMJAD ALI KHAN AND ADOOR GOPALAKRISHNAN in the sixth V.C. Padmanabhan Memorial Awards
The sixth V.C. Padmanabhan Memorial Awards for Excellence for 2015 were given today at Lulu Convention Centre, Trichur. Awards were given to the prominent winners of the year, which includes the eminent musician and sarod player, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, the renowned filmmaker Shri Adoor Gopalakrishnan, and the eminent scientist and former Chairman of ISRO, Dr. K. Radhakrishnan. The Awards carry a cash prize of one lakh rupees and a bronze plaque.
The V.C. Padmanabhan Memorial Awards were instituted in the year 2010 to commemorate the illustrious founder of the Manappuram Group. They are presented every year to eminent personalities who have made significant contributions in the five categories of Arts and Literature, Civil Servant achieving Excellence in Public Administration, Public Representative achieving Excellence in Good Governance, Business Excellence leading to development of Society at large and Ecology and Environment Conservation and Development.
The following is the list of Awardees for the year 2015:
| Category | Awardees |
| Arts and Literature | Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Eminent Musician&
Shri Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Writer and Director |
| Business Excellence Leading to Development of Society at Large | Shri M.P. RamachandranChairman & Managing Director, Jyothy Laboratories Ltd.
& Shri V.K. Mathews, Executive Chairman, IBS Group (based at Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram) |
| A Public Representative with Excellence in Good Governance | Adv. Therambil Ramakrishnan, MLA, and former Speaker,Kerala Legislative Assembly |
| A Civil Servant Achieving Excellence in Public Administration | Dr K. Radhakrishnan, Scientist andformer Chairman, ISRO
|
No award was announced in the category of Ecology and Environment for this year. Distinguished awardees in earlier years have included Dr. E. Sreedharan (MD, Delhi Metro) in 2010, Shri M. Damodaran (Former Chairman, SEBI) in 2012 and Shri Vinod Rai (former CAG) in 2013.
The five-member jury that selected the winners for the year 2015 was headed by Prof. M.K. Prasad, Former Pro-Vice Chancellor, University of Calicut. The other members were Shri. V.P. Nandakumar (MD & CEO, Manappuram Finance Ltd.), Prof. K.P. Mukundan (former Principal, Sree Kerala Varma College, Thrissur), Dr. M. Mohandas (Former Dean, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur) and Dr. P.V. Krishnan Nair (Secretary, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy).
