In my opinion the following people from Bengal deserve their outstanding excellence and tremendous contribution to be honoured with a national award. I humbly request the honourable government to give the issue a thought please, before deciding next year's Padma Bhushan awards list.
1. Ustad Aashish Khan (Art & Culture) - Senia Maihar Gharana Sarode maestro and Professor of Indian Classical Music at the California Institute of the Arts, USA; Grammy Award nominee in 2006 in best world music category.
2. Ustad Bahadur Khan (Art & Culture) - Senia Maihar Gharana Sarode maestro. One of the foremost Sarode maestros during his life time.
3. Professor Kaushik Basu PhD (Literature & Education) - Eminent economist and prolific author. Professor of Economics at Cornell University, USA.
4. Professor Satyabrata Rai Chowdhuri PhD DLitt FRAS (Literature & Education) - Eminent Political Scientist and International Relations scholar. Prolific writer, senior current affairs analyst, and author of many books including 'Nuclear Politics: Towards A Safer World'. Presently, Professor Emeritus of the University Grants Commission, Fellow of the University of London, and Fellow of the Royal Society, UK. Former Adviser to the Indian Ministries of Defence and External Affairs.
