M.K. Sridhar, a wheelchair-bound educationist and administrator in Karnataka, was chosen for the prestigious Padma Shri award for 2024 by the Union government on Thursday, January 25.

In the citation of the Padma Shri award, Sridhar has been said to make important contributions to the nation's educational policies, a report by IANS stated.

Sridhar Makam Krishnamurthy was also a member of the committee for the Draft National Education Policy 2019 and the Chairman of Karnataka's Committee on Technology Enabled Learning.

His life sketch was published as a book titled Sahasra Padhi in Kannada.

He was conferred with the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award and General President Gold Medal by the Indian Science Congress Association.

Sridhar also served as Member Secretary of the Karnataka Knowledge Commission, Karnataka State Innovation Council and Member of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE).

Presently, he is the Executive Council Member of the Central University of Kerala; Vice-President of the Indian Red Cross Society, Karnataka chapter; President of Centre for Educational and Social Studies (CESS); member of a task force on NEP in Karnataka as well as the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) Senior Fellow at Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru.

He obtained a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Mysore. He was a senior lecturer in Commerce at Vijaya College, Bengaluru and later served as Professor and Dean at Canara Bank School of Management Studies, Bangalore University. He has published thirty papers and completed eleven research projects.

He has been conferred with the Padma Shri in the field of Literature and Education, IANS added.