Baba Balia

Spiritual guru and preacher

Baba Balia (born in April 1954) is a spiritual guru and preacher from Odisha, India. He is a social reformer trying to eradicate superstitions, mobilising support to members of the vulnerable sections of society, opposing child marriage and supporting widow remarriage, providing relief to victims of natural calamities like floods and cyclones, and taking up several similar activities.[1]

The activities taken up by Baba Balia include:[2]

* Organizing dowry-free marriages of girls belonging to vulnerable sections of society
* Campaigning for widows' right to live in dignity[3]
* Organising "Bratoponayan sanskar" (Sacred Thread Ceremony) of poor boys every year
* Advocating health check-up both bride and bride-groom before solemnization of marriage instead of matching of horoscopes
* Creating awareness through public campaigns to take medical aid for recovery from snake bite instead of resorting to help from wizards
* Organising rescue and relief operations during natural disasters like flood, cyclone and fire in inaccessible coastal area of Odisha
* Advocating for protection of forests and conservation of bio-diversity
* Working for the revival and popularization of "Lokanatya", "Pala" and "Sankirtan", the traditional cultural forms of folk dance and music

## Recognition

[edit]

* In the year 2022, Govt of India conferred the Padma Shri award, the third highest award in the Padma series of awards, on Srimad Baba Balia for his distinguished service in the field of social work.[4] The award is in recognition of his service as a "Social and Spiritual Leader from Jagatsinghapur working with Odisha's poor and backward communities".[5]

## Additional reading

[edit]

* Images of Baba Balia Ashram at Marjita, Odisha: "Baba Balia Ashram Marjita, Odisha 754153, India". World Orgs. IN.WorldOrgs.com. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
* "Spiritual Guru Baba Balia opts to donate trust property to Odisha government". Orissa Diary. Odisha Diary Foundation. 14 September 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2022.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Website of International Geeta Mission an organisation established by Baba Balia: "The International Geeta Mission". The International Geeta Mission. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
2. ^ "The International Geeta Mission: The Founder". The International Geeta Mission. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
3. ^ "The crusader for widows' right to live with dignity". The Indian Express. Express News Service. 6 February 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
4. ^ "Padma Awards 2022" (PDF). Padma Awards. Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt of India. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 January 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
5. ^ "Padma Awards 2022". Padma Awards. Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt of India. Archived from the original on 29 January 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2022.

* v
* t
* e

Recipients of Padma Shri in Social Work

1950s|

* Mary Clubwala Jadhav (1955)
* Thackkadu Natesasastrigal Jagadisan (1957)
* R. S. Subbalakshmi (1958)
* Sailabala Das (1959)
* Lakshman Singh Jangpangi (1959)

1960s|

* Nanabhai Bhatt (1960)
* Bina Das (1960)
* Sophia Wadia (1960)
* Kamalabai Hospet (1961)
* Mithuben Petit (1961)
* N. Ramaswami Ayyar (1962)
* Mother Teresa (1962)
* Brij Krishna Chandiwala (1963)
* Leela Sumant Moolgaokar (1963)
* Leela Sumant Moolgaokar (1963)
* Ambujammal (1964)
* Mona Chandravati Gupta (1965)
* Lakshmi Mazumdar (1965)
* Gordhandas Bhagwandas Narottamdas (1965)
* John Richardson (1965)
* Manibhai Desai (1968)
* Bhaurao Gaikwad (1968)
* Shalini Moghe (1968)
* Sis Ram Ola (1968)
* Kalyan Singh Gupta (1969)
* Mangru Ganu Uikey (1969)

1970s|

* Indumati Chimanlal Sheth (1970)
* Maniben Kara (1970)
* Baba Amte (1971)
* Robin Banerjee (1971)
* Lila Ramkumar Bhargava (1971)
* Savita Behen (1971)
* Pandurang Dharmaji Jadhav (1971)
* Yudhvir Singh (1971)
* Avabai Bomanji Wadia (1971)
* Badri Prasad Bajoria (1972)
* Kanta Saroop Krishen (1972)
* Iyyanki Venkata Ramanayya (1972)
* Chandraprabha Saikiani (1972)
* Sarojini Varadappan (1973)
* Queenie H. C. Captain (1974)
* L. Kijungluba Ao (1976)
* Bishambhar Nath Pande (1976)
* Ismail Ahmed Cachalia (1977)
* Dhani Prem (1977)

1980s|

* Kunwar Singh Negi (1981)
* Bhagat Puran Singh (1981)
* Claire Vellut (1981)
* Swami Kalyandev (1982)
* Shiv Dutt Upadhyaya (1982)
* M. P. Nachimuthu (1983)
* Omem Moyong Deori (1984)
* Zainulabedin Gulamhusain Rangoonwala (1984)
* Ela Bhatt (1985)
* Ratnappa Kumbhar (1985)
* Anutai Wagh (1985)
* Chandi Prasad Bhatt (1986)
* Mahasweta Devi (1986)
* Krishan Dev Dewan (1986)
* Tushar Kanjilal (1986)
* Avdhash Kaushal (1986)
* Narayan Singh Manaklao (1986)
* Bunker Roy (1986)
* Begum Zaffar Ali (1987)
* Jaya Arunachalam (1987)
* Darshan Singh Vohra (1988)
* Mithu Alur (1989)
* Vedaratnam Appakutti (1989)
* Rajmohini Devi (1989)
* Krishnammal Jagannathan (1989)
* Mag Raj Jain (1989)
* Edward Kutchat (1989)

1990s|

* Anna Hazare (1990)
* Renana Jhabvala (1990)
* Silverine Swer (1990)
* Silverine Swer (1991)
* Vimla Dang (1991)
* T. G. K. Menon (1991)
* Jagdish Kashibhai Patel (1991)
* D. Y. Patil (1991)
* Sundaram Ramakrishnan (1991)
* Kantilal Hastimal Sancheti (1991)
* Shanthi Ranganathan (1992)
* Vidyaben Shah (1992)
* Leonarda Angela Casiraghi (1998)
* Antony Padiyara (1998)
* Shantha Sinha (1998)
* Kanta Tyagi (1998)
* Acharya Ramamurti (1999)
* T. Sailo (1999)
* Natwar Thakkar (1999)

2000s|

* Neidonuo Angami (2000)
* Jagan Nath Kaul (2000)
* Patricia Mukhim (2000)
* Janaky Athi Nahappan (2000)
* Hanumappa Sudarshan (2000)
* Rabindra Nath Upadhyay (2000)
* Tulasi Munda (2001)
* Norma Alvares (2002)
* Prakash Amte (2002)
* Kiran Martin (2002)
* Prema Narendra Purao (2002)
* Sivananda Rajaram (2002)
* Verna Elizabeth Watre Ingty (2003)
* Queenie Rynjah (2004)
* Hema Bharali (2005)
* Nana Chudasama (2005)
* Lalsawma (2005)
* Theilin Phanbuh (2005)
* Gladys Staines (2005)
* Suwalal Bafna (2006)
* Anil Prakash Joshi (2006)
* Sudha Murty (2006)
* Sudha Varghese (2006)
* Melhupra Vero (2006)
* Runa Banerjee (2007)
* S. M. Cyril (2007)
* M. A. Yusuff Ali (2008)
* Sheela Borthakur (2008)
* Karuna Mary Braganza (2008)
* V. R. Gowrishankar (2008)
* Kshama Metre (2008)
* Kutikuppala Surya Rao (2008)
* Madan Mohan Sabharwal (2008)
* Vikramjit Singh Sahney (2008)
* Bilkees Latif (2009)
* Keepu Tsering Lepcha (2009)
* C. K. Menon (2009)
* Joseph H. Pereira (2009)
* Sunil Kanti Roy (2009)
* Mitraniketan Viswanathan (2009)

2010s|

* Anu Aga (2010)
* J. R. Gangaramani (2010)
* Deep Joshi (2010)
* Sudha Kaul (2010)
* Ayekpam Tomba Meetei (2010)
* Kurian John Melamparambil (2010)
* Sudhir M. Parikh (2010)
* Kranti Shah (2010)
* Baba Sewa Singh (2010)
* Mamraj Agrawal (2011)
* Jockin Arputham (2011)
* Nomita Chandy (2011)
* Martha Chen (2011)
* Azad Moopen (2011)
* Sheela Patel (2011)
* Anita Reddy (2011)
* Kanubhai Hasmukhbhai Tailor (2011)
* Shamshad Begum (2012)
* Reeta Devi (2012)
* P. K. Gopal (2012)
* G. Muniratnam (2012)
* Niranjan Pranshankar Pandya (2012)
* Uma Tuli (2012)
* S. P. Varma (2012)
* Phoolbasan Bai Yadav (2012)
* Binny Yanga (2012)
* Jharna Dhara Chowdhury (2013)
* S. K. M. Maeilanandhan (2013)
* Nileema Mishra (2013)
* Reema Nanavati (2013)
* Manju Bharat Ram (2013)
* Narendra Dabholkar (2014)
* Mukul Chandra Goswami (2014)
* Durga Jain (2014)
* J. L. Kaul (2014)
* Mathur Savani (2014)
* Ashok Bhagat (2015)
* Janak Palta McGilligan (2015)
* Meetha Lal Mehta (2015)
* Veerendra Raj Mehta (2015)
* Bimla Poddar (2015)
* Madeleine Herman de Blic (2016)
* Madhu Pandit Dasa (2016)
* Ajoy Kumar Dutta (2016)
* Damal Kandalai Srinivasan (2016)
* Sunitha Krishnan (2016)
* Sundar Menon (2016)
* Arunachalam Muruganantham (2016)
* P. Gopinathan Nair (2016)
* Sudharak Olwe (2016)
* Girish Bharadwaj (2017)
* Appasaheb Dharmadhikari (2017)
* Bipin Ganatra (2017)
* Karimul Haque (2017)
* Anuradha Koirala (2017)
* Suhas Vitthal Mapuskar (2017)
* Daripalli Ramaiah (2017)
* Balbir Singh Seechewal (2017)
* Damodar Ganesh Bapat (2018)
* Sitavva Joddati (2018)
* Subhasini Mistry (2018)
* Sulagitti Narasamma (2018)
* Abdullah Bin Othman (2018)
* Sampat Ramteke (2018)
* Draupadi Ghimiray (2019)
* Bulu Imam (2019)
* Friederike Irina Bruning (2019)
* Chinna Pillai (2019)
* Shabbir Sayyad (2019)
* Jyoti Kumar Sinha (2019)
* Saalumarada Thimmakka (2019)
* Jamuna Tudu (2019)
* Muktaben Pankajkumar Dagli (2019)

2020s|

* Jagdish Lal Ahuja (2020)
* Popatrao Baguji Pawar (2020)
* Usha Chaumar (2020)
* Lia Diskin (2020)
* Sangkhumi Bualchhuak (2020
* Tulsi Gowda (2020)
* Harekala Hajabba (2020)
* Tetsu Nakamura (2020)
* S. Ramakrishnan (2020)
* Sayed Mehboob Shah Qadri (2020)
* Mohammed Sharif (2020)
* Ramjee Singh (2020)
* Agus Indra Udayana (2020)
* Sundaram Verma (2020)
* Sindhutai Sapkal (2021)
* Girish Prabhune (2021)
* Prabhaben Shah (2022)
* Savaji Bhai Dholakia (2022)
* Gamit Ramilaben Raysingbhai (2022)
* Om Prakash Gandhi (2022)
* K. V. Rabiya (2022)
* Srimad Baba Balia (2022)
* Prem Singh (2022)
* Baba Iqbal Singh Ji (2022)
* S Damodaran (2022)
* Basanti Devi (2022)
* Bhiku Ramji Idate (2023)
* Bikram Bahadur Jamatia (2023)
* Ramkuiwangbe Jeme Newme (2023)
* Hirabai Lobi (2023)
* Moolchand Lodha (2023)
* Gajanan Jagannath Mane (2023)
* Uma Shankar Pandey (2023)
* V. P. Appukutta Poduval (2023)
* Vadivel Gopal and Masi Sadaiyan (2023)
* Sankurathri Chandra Sekhar (2023)
* Laxman Singh (2023)
* Palam Kalyana Sundaram (2023)
* Karma Wangchu (Posthumous) (2023)
* Parbati Barua (2024)
* Dukhu Majhi (2024)
* Chami Murmu (2024)
* Shankar Baba Pundlikrao Papalkar (2024)
* KS Rajanna (2024)
* Sangthankima (2024)
* Gurvinder Singh (2024)
* Somanna (2024)
* Maya Tandon (2024)
* Sano Vamuzo (2024)
* Jageshwar Yadav (2024)
* Bhim Singh Bhavesh (2025)
* Chaitram Deochand Pawar (2025)
* Jumde Yomgam Gamlin (2025)
* Libia Lobo Sardesai (2025)
* Radha Bahin Bhatt (2025)
* Suresh Harilal Soni (2025)
* Vinayak Lohani (2025)

* v
* t
* e

Padma Award winners of Odisha

Padma Vibhushan

* Kelucharan Mohapatra (2000)
* Sitakant Mahapatra (2010)
* Raghunath Mohapatra (2013)
* Sudarshan Sahoo (2021)

Padma Bhushan

* Mahadeva Iyer Ganapati (1954)
* Prana Krushna Parija (1955)
* Nilakantha Das (1960)
* Radhanath Rath (1968)
* Kalindi Charan Panigrahi (1971)
* Gopinath Mohanty (1981)
* Kelucharan Mohapatra (1988)
* Trilochan Pradhan (1990)
* Raghunath Mohapatra (2001)
* Sitakant Mahapatra (2003)
* Ramakanta Rath (2006)
* Ramakanta Panda* (2010)
* Jatin Das* (2012)
* Jogesh Pati* (2013)
* Manoj Das* (2020)
* Pratibha Ray (2022)

Padma Shri

* Laxminarayan Sahu (1955)
* Isaac Santra* (1956)
* Sailabala Das (1959)
* Lakshman Singh Jangpangi (1959)
* Artaballabha Mohanty (1960)
* Parshuram Mishra (1961)
* Shanti Kumar Tribhuvandas Raja (1962)
* Sachidananda Routray (1962)
* Paramananda Acharya (1964)
* Kruthartha Acharya (1965)
* Swami Bichitranada Das (1966)
* Mayadhar Mansingh (1967)
* Abhin Chandra Rao (1968)
* Sadashiv Rath Sharma (1969)
* Mohan Nayak (1970)
* Sadasiv Misra (1971)
* G. S. Melkote (1972)
* Kelucharan Mohapatra (1974)
* Satyanarayana Rajguru (1974)
* Sanjukta Panigrahi (1975)
* Nimai Charan Harichandan (1976)
* Raghunath Mohapatra (1976)
* Krushna Chandra Panigrahi (1976)
* Prafulla Kumar Jena (1977)
* Saroj Raj Choudhury* (1983)
* Basantibala Jena (1984)
* Jadunath Supakar*
* Binod Kanungo (1986)
* Sudarshan Sahoo (1988)
* Radha Mohan Gadanayak (1990)
* Surendra Mohanty (1991)
* Pankaj Charan Das (1992)
* Bhagaban Sahu (1992)
* Priyambada Mohanty Hejmadi (1998)
* Kunja Bihari Meher (1998)
* Manoj Das* (2001)
* Tulasi Munda (2001)
* Gopal Chhotray (2002)
* Kota Harinarayana* (2002)
* Gopal Chandra Mitra (2003)
* Dilip Tirkey (2004)
* Maguni Charan Das (2004)
* Manoranjan Das (2004)
* Nalini Ranjan Mohanty* (2004)
* Chaturbhuj Meher (2005)
* Kumkum Mohanty (2005)
* Madhu Sudan Kanungo* (2005)
* Ileana Citaristi (2006)
* Ghanashyam Mishra (2006)
* Pratibha Ray (2007)
* Rabi Narayan Bastia* (2007)
* Gangadhar Pradhan (2008)
* Srinibash Udgata (2008)
* Jayanta Mahapatra (2009)
* Raghunath Panigrahi (2010)
* Ignace Tirkey (2010)
* Minati Mishra (2012)
* Apurba Kishore Bir (2013)
* Kailash Chandra Meher (2013)
* Taraprasad Das (2013)
* Ajay Kumar Parida* (2014)
* Geeta Mahalik (2014)
* Subrat Kumar Acharya (2014)
* Sudarsan Pattnaik (2014)
* Prafulla Kar (2015)
* Haldhar Nag (2016)
* Nila Madhab Panda* (2016)
* Jitendra Haripal (2017)
* Bhabani Charan Pattanayak (2018)
* Chandra Sekhar Rath (2018)
* Gobardhan Panika (2018)
* Prabhakar Maharana (2018)
* Sisir Mishra (2018)
* Devarapalli Prakash Rao (2019)
* Kamala Pujari (2019)
* Daitari Naik (2019)
* Batakrushna Sahoo (2020)
* Binapani Mohanty (2020)
* Damayanti Beshra (2020)
* Digambar Behera (2020)
* Manmohan Mahapatra (2020)
* Prasanta Kumar Pattanaik (2020)
* Radhamohan and Sabarmatee (2020)
* Utsav Charan Das (2020)
* Mitrabhanu Gountia (2020)
* Krishna Mohan Pathi (2021)
* Nanda Prusty (2021)
* Purnamasi Jani (2021)
* Rajat Kumar Kar (2021)
* Shanti Devi (2021)
* Srimad Baba Balia (2022)
* Pramod Bhagat (2022)
* Aditya Prasad Dash (2022)
* Shyamamani Devi (2022)
* Narasingha Prasad Guru (2022)
* Maguni Charan Kuanr (2023)
* Antaryami Mishra (2023)
* Krishna Patel (2023)
* Patayat Sahu (2023)

*birth place Odisha
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