Padma Shri for Prof Raghuvendra Tanwar, Neeraj Chopra, Paralympian Sumit Antil, Om Prakash Gandhi

Tribune News Service

Panipat, January 25

Four prominent persons of Haryana, Neeraj Chopra, Prof Raghuvendra Tanwar, Om Prakash Gandhi and Sumit Antil have been conferred with Padma Shri on this Republic Day.

Achievements

• Javelin thrower Sumit Antil to be honoured for his Tokyo Paralympics performance
• Prof Raghuvendra Tanwar of Kurukshetra to be honoured for his work in the field of history
• Social worker Om Prakash Gandhi to be honoured for women's education

Happiness erupted at a house in Khewra village of Sonepat district on Tuesday evening soon after the Union Government announced Padam Shri award for the gold medallist Sumit Antil at the Tokyo Paralympics.

Sumit will be present on the Haryana Tableau in the Republic Day Parade in Delhi today.

Born on June 7, 1998, Sumit had bagged the gold in the Tokyo Olympics in javelin and also created a new world record by throwing the javelin to 68.85m in the F64 category.

``It is a proud moment for us as we never think about such a big national award but it happened only due to the hard work of Sumit, his coaches, family and blessings of all Indians,” said Nirmala Devi, mother of Sumit.

“Sumit is preparing for Asian Games and World Championship to be scheduled this year and for this, he is practising in the Northern Regional centre of the Sports Authority of India (SAI), Sonepat,” she asserted.

Sumit had lost his left leg in an accident that occurred on January 5, 2015, while he was studying in class XII. Nirmala, his mother, took him to Pune, where he got a prosthetic leg. With motivation from his friends, he reached the SAI centre, where Asian silver medallist coach Virender Dhankar started coaching him.

Kurukshetra: Prof Raghuvendra Tanwar of Kurukshetra has been conferred with Padma Shri award.

Raghuvendra Tanwar, Professor Emeritus and former Registrar, Kurukshetra University, said “It is a great honour and it was a total surprise for me. My work has been recognised.”

He was earlier this month appointed Chairman of the Indian Council of historical Research (ICHR), New Delhi.

His contribution in the field of history has been widely acknowledged. He is acclaimed for his research on the history of Jammu and Kashmir in the critical phase of 1947-1953.

Prof Tanwar is a world-renowned expert in the field of Partition studies and Jammu & Kashmir and has published a large number of books and research papers in national and international journals. Tanwar’s latest work “The story of India’s partition” has been published by the publication division, Government of India.

Prof Tanwar served the history department of KU for 42 years and held crucial positions, including chairperson, dean of the faculty, dean students welfare, dean academic affairs, registrar, and professor emeritus. He was appointed Director of Haryana Academy of History and Culture in 2016. He also served as a UGC national fellow, a prestigious position in academia, from 2002-2005.

Yamunanagar: Social worker Om Prakash Gandhi has been conferred with the Padma Shree by the Government of India.

Born on February 1, 1942, in a farmer’s family in Madhobans village in Yamunanagar, Om Prakash Poswal, popularly known as Om Prakash Gandhi, passed his Class X from Mukand Lal Senior Secondary School, Radaur.

After passing MSc in Physics from Meerut University (Uttar Pradesh), he joined Agriculture College at Rampur Maniharan in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh as a lecturer.

He resigned from his job after serving for 20 years at this Agriculture College and decided to work in the field of women education. He formed Kanya Vidhya Pracharni Sabha, Khadri, in 1984 and established Kanya Gurukul (Gurjar Kanya Vidhya Mandir School) in Devdhar village on 12 acres in 1985 by collecting donations from people.

“The areas of Chhachhrauli block, including Khizrabad (now Pratap Nagar) of Yamunanagar district, were very backward in the field of women education. Therefore, I decided to work in the field of women’s education. Now, I am happy as almost all the girls of this area are taking to education,” said Gandhi.

Now, Kanya Vidhya Pracharni Sabha, Khadri is going to open a Gurukul in Jagadhri too. CM ML Khattar laid the foundation stone of this Samrat Mihir Bhoj Gurukul Vidyapeeth on January 14, 2022.

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