The President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 7 October 2014 presented the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award 2014 for Excellence in Public Administration, Academics and Management to Dr Apathukatha Sivathanu Pillai at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.
Dr Apathukatha Sivathanu Pillai was honoured for his outstanding contribution in the field of aerospace and missile technology.
The award carries cash price of 5 lakh rupees, a citation and a plaque.
Apathukatha Sivathanu Pillai
• Pillai did his graduation in Electrical Engineering from Madras University.
• He underwent management programme at Harvard Business School and obtained PhD from Pune University.
• He has worked as a Chief Controller (Research and Development) of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
• He has also served as a Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture between India and Russia.
• He has worked with great visionary leaders like Dr Vikram Sarabhai, Prof Satish Dhawan and APJ Abdul Kalam to contribute in country’s major space research programme.
• Pillai has been credited with development of critical missile technologies through realization of Agni, Prithvi, Nag and Akash missiles.
• Pillai is also a recipient of civilian honours Padma Shree in 2002 and Padma Bhushan in 2013.
Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award
The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award is an annual prestigious award instituted from Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, Delhi. The award is presented by President of India.
The award honours an Indian, residing in India or abroad, who is an exceptionally outstanding and distinguished business leader, management practitioner, public administrator, educator or institution builder.
The first Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award was presented to Professor CK Prahalad in 1999.
