Anand Kumar, the founder of Super 30 coaching centre and one of the three Padma Shri award winners from Bihar this year, thanked the people for their support in tough times.
While Kumar has been selected for the award in the field of literature and education, two others from the state - Subhadra Devi and Kapil Dev Prasad - were selected for their contributions to the field of art.
Super 30 was founded by Kumar, a mathematics teacher, in 2002.
The programme selects 30 talented candidates each year from economically underprivileged sections of the society and trains them for the JEE-Main & JEE-Advanced, the entrance examination for the India Institute of Technology (IIT).
Kumar, while speaking to PTI, said, "I am overwhelmed with this honour. I am grateful to the Centre and the people who always supported me during the tough times." He said that after getting the award, his responsibility has increased and he has to expand Super 30 across the country through both online and offline modes.
Nalanda resident 69-year-old Kapil Dev Prasad also got the coveted award for popularising the 'Bawan Buti' sari tradition -- the age-old craft of carving 52 small flowers on silk and cotton saris.
He thanked the government and his well-wishers for the prestigious award.
"I am speechless... This award is dedicated to all the artisans engaged in the 'Bawan Buti' sari tradition and to all residents of my Baswan Bigha village in Nalanda district," he told PTI.
Prasad said he is trying for securing Geographical Indication (GI) tag for this traditional art.
Women of more than 100 families from the villages of Nepura and Baswan Bigha are dependent on the age-old craft for livelihood.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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