Also on the list was renowned chef Ghulam Moenuddin Kuraishi, who was honoured for promoting Awadhi cuisine.
Then there was Dr Ramakant Yadav, who heads the neurology department at the Uttar Pradesh University of Medical Sciences in Saifai, the home of the Chief Minister. And, Venkat Changawali, consultant to the UP Home Department on the Chief Minister’s Dial 100 emergency service scheme.
Asked about the selection criteria, Hari Om, Secretary, UP Culture Department, said, “We had received about 310 applications that were scrutinised by the selection committee headed by me at the directorate level and the minister at the government level. The final approval was given by the Chief Minister, who holds special powers under the provisions of the award.”
Others on the list included actor Saurabh Shukla, cricketers Piyush Chawla, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Gyanendra Pandey and Praveen Kumar, astrologers Oma Upadhyaya and Hari Prasad Mishra, and Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CEO of Paytm, who hails from Aligarh.
Incidentally, the first Yash Bharti award winner in 1994 was poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan, the father of actor Amitabh Bachchan.
(Sourced from agencies, feature image courtesy:oneindia.com)
