indica News Bureau
The Government of India made the announcement for Padma awards- the three highest civilian awards in India – on January 25. While seven citizens were awarded Padma Vibhushan award, sixteen received the Padma Bhushan and a hundred and eighteen citizens were bestowed the Padma Shri. Amongst them, three Indian-Americans, namely, Romesh T. Wadhwani, S.P. Kothari and Dr. Prasanta Kumar Pattanaik were listed for the Padma Shri award while one Indian-American, , Jagdish N. Sheth became a Padma Bhushan recipient.
Jagdish N. Sheth
Sheth, the Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Business at Emory University Goizueta Business School, is among 16 awardees to receive India’s third highest civilian award.
Sheth came to the United States to further his academic career and received his MBA at the University of Pittsburgh in 1962. He studied at MIT and the University of Pittsburgh received his Ph.D from the Katz Graduate School of Business in 1966. He also developed a theory about buyer behavior and has published more than 200 articles in leading journals and has written a number of books. Last year in January, Sheth presented the first-ever Philip Kotler Presidential Award to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Romesh T. Wadhwani
Wadhwani founded the Symphony Technology Group in 2002, which now a revenue of $2.5 billion annually. Last year, Wadhwani ranked at number 261 of the Forbes list of 400 richest Americans and at number 667 in Forbes list billionaires.
Wadhwani moved from Karachi to India during India’s partition with his family at young age. He received a bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bomba y, and master’s and Ph.D degrees in electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
He established the Wadhwani Foundation for economic development in emerging economies, with an initial focus on India. In 2012, he inaugurated a new research centre at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bangaluru, named after his late mother, Shanta Wadhwani
P. Kothari
Padma Shri recipient, Kothari, is the Gordon Y. Billard Professor of Management and former deputy dean at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Last year, he was appointed chief economist and director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Pattanaik is emeritus professor at the Department of Economics at the University of California, a research associate for the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative, and a fellow of the Human Development and Capability Association.
Prasanta Kumar Pattanaik
Padma Shri awardee Pattanaik is emeritus professor at the Department of Economics at the University of California, a research associate for the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI), and a fellow of the Human Development and Capability Association. Along with Amartya Sen and Kenneth Arrow, Pattanaik is an advisory editor for the journal Social Choice and Welfare. Pattanaik received his degree in economics from Utkal University, Odisha, India. He then went on to study for his master’s and doctorate, both in economics, at the prestigious Delhi School of Economics University of Delhi
