President Dr Ram Baran Yadav honored various personalities with different awards in recognition of their contribution amid a function at the President´s Office in Sheetal Niwas, on Tuesday.

According to RSS, late Nepali Congress leader Ganeshman Singh was posthumously awarded with the prestigious award, Nepal-Ratna Vibhushan. Nepali Congress General Secretary and Singh's son Prakashman Singh received the award.

Similarly, former Prime Minister Manmohan Adhikari was awarded with Rastragaurav Vibhushan posthumously. Adhikari´s son Prakash Adhikari received the award.

Literary figure Madhav Prasad Ghimire and senior cultural expert Satyamohan Joshi were honored with the Ujjawal Kirtimaya Rastradeep awards. Chief Secretary of the government, Madhav Prasad Ghimire, Chief of Army Staff (CoAS), Chhatraman Singh Gurung and the renowned mountaineer Appa Sherpa among others were honored with the prestigious award Sukirtimaya Rastradeep Tritiya.

President Yadav awarded some 216 personalities with different awards -Prajjwal Janasewashree Chaturtha, Prabal Janasewa Tritiya, and Janasewashree Panchama.

However, the government’s decision to confer Rastra Gaurab award to late Girija Prasad Koirala, who became country’s prime minister on multiple occasions and was one of the chief architects of the ongoing peace process, was criticized by his daughter Sujata Koirala. Koirala said that the second-class honour posthumously granted to her father greatly undermined his remarkable contribution to the nation.

Similarly, some famous personalities also refused to receive the state honours today, and they were popular comedian duo Madan Krishna Shrestha and Hari Bansha Acharya, Editor and Publisher of Himal Khabar PatrikaKanak Mani Dixit, journalist Yuvaraj Ghimire and officiating Chief Election Commissioner Nil Kantha Upreti.

Vice-President Paramanand Jha, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, Constituent Assembly chairman Subas Chandra Nemwang, Chief Justice Khilraj Regmi, Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers and senior officials of the government among others were present in the function. nepalnews.com