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Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) founder and actor Vijayakanth, who passed away December 28, 2023, at the age of 71, has been conferred with Padma Bhushan posthumously.
Born as Vijayraj Alagarswami in 1952 in Madurai, he came to be known by his screen name Vijayakanth and the popular moniker ‘Captain’. He served as the leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu assembly from 2011 to 2016. Having starred in over 150 films spanning four decades, Vijayakanth kept a low profile in his later years due to a prolonged illness as his wife Premalatha took care of the party activities. His funeral witnessed one of the largest gatherings to bid farewell to a political leader in the country.
As per the statement issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the President has approved 132 Padma awards this year. The list comprises five Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 110 Padma Shri.
From Tamil Nadu, Bharatanatyam exponents Vyjayantimala Bali and Padma Subrahmanyam have been conferred with Padma Vibhushan in the field of art.
The Padma Shri awardees from the state are folk artist Badrappan M from Coimbatore. Squash player Joshna Chinappa (sports), Joe D Cruz (literature and education), G Natchiar of Aravind Eye Care Systems (medicine), and Nagaswaram artist Seshampatti T Sivalingam (art).
Meanwhile, Governor R N Ravi unfurled the tricolour near the Labour Statue during the Republic Day Celebrations in the presence of Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday.
The state government announced the ‘Kottai Ameer Communal Harmony Award, 2024’ named after the late Kottai Ameer, who worked for promoting communal harmony, to Mohammed Zubair, the founder of fact-checking website Alt News.
The government noted that Zubair from the Krishnagiri district, has been rendering various services to promote communal harmony.
“Mohammed Zubair has created a website called ‘Alt News’ and has been analysing the veracity of the news coming out on social media and posting the real news on his website. His work helps to prevent the occurrence of violence in society likely to be caused by fake news,” a statement said.
It was noted that in March 2023, there was a rapid spread on social media that migrant workers were being attacked in Tamil Nadu and after verifying the authenticity of the video footage, Zubair published the news on his website that the footage in the video posted on social media was not actually taken place in Tamil Nadu and acted to prevent violence caused by caste, religion, race and language in Tamil Nadu.
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