Venkaiah congratulates farmer winning Padma Shri

"Congratulations to all Padma awardees... Very happy that for the first time a Padma award is bestowed on a farmer, Shri Subhash Palekar", Naidu said on Twitter.

Naidu's highlighting that a farmer has been given Padma Shri comes in the backdrop of Narendra Modi government having been repeatedly targetted by the Opposition over its alleged "anti farmer" stance.

Palekar, who has been given the award in farming category, hails from Maharashtra.

Born in Belora village of drought prone Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, Palekar, a graduate in Agriculture, is acclaimed for his campaign for zero budget natural farming.

Having worked with well-known environmentalists and global farming experts, Palekar has been training farmers about zero budget natural farming throughout India through workshops, seminars, his books in Marathi, Hindi, English, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil languages and by models farms established throughout India.