The awards are given in various disciplines such as art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service
President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday bequeathed the prestigious Padma awards on recipients qualifying from all walks of life, including actor Kangana Ranaut, singer Adnan Sami and head scientists at ICMR Dr Raman Gangakhedkar among other notable personalities.
India’s highest civilian award, Padma Awards, are given in various disciplines and walks of life, such as art, social work, sports, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education. The Padma awards are given for distinguished service of a high order.
The 2021 list of Padma awards comprised seven Padma Vibhushan, 10 Padma Bhushan, and 102 Padma Shri Awards, of which 29 awardees are women, 16 posthumous awardees, and one transgender awardee.
Among the well-known awardees from the field of art are artist Shyam Sunder Sharma, actor Savita Joshi, content creator Ekta Kapoor, filmmaker Karan Johar, and late singer SP Balasubramaniam. In sports, Mary Kom, Zaheer Khan, PV Sindhu are presented with the Padma Awards.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah also attended the event.
Modi tweeted, “Attended the first of the Padma Award ceremonies for the years 2020 and 2021. I felt extremely happy to see grassroots level achievers being recognised for their exemplary efforts to further public good. Congratulations to all those who have been conferred the #PeoplesPadma.”
7 Padma Vibhushan awardees
The second-highest civilian award of India, after the Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan is given for “exceptional and distinguished service”. For the year 2020, today, Indian politicians Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj have been given the award posthumously. This year’s awardees:
Shinzo Abe – Public Affairs – Japan: A global statesman and longest serving Prime Minister of Japan, Abe has been a friend of India, helping in Indo-Japanese ties.
S P Balasubramaniam (Posthumous) – Art – Tamil Nadu: The Indian Carnatic singer has recorded orver 40,000 songs in more than 15 languages. The internationally acclaimed singer has been awarded Padma Vibushan posthumously.
Dr. Belle Monappa Hegde – Medicine – Karnataka: He is a veteran doctor and educationist, who redefined preventive care and good health.
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan – Others – Spiritualism – Delhi: World renowned Islamic scholar and Gandhian peace activist, Khan is an expert on Classic Islamic learning and modern science.
B. B. Lal Archaeology – Delhi: Archeology legend Lal is known for his works at Ramayan sites
Sudarshan Sahoo – Art – Odisha: Veteran sculptor Sahoo is the torch bearer of Odia sculpture tradition. He is also known as ShreeKhetra Shree.
Narinder Singh Kapany (Posthumous) — Science and Engineering — United States: Kapany is Indian-American physicis, also known as father of fiber optics. He laid thw foundation of today’s high speed internet.
10 Padma Bhushan awardees
The third-highest civilian award in India, the Padma Bhushan award is given for “distinguished service of a high order…without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex.” The award criteria include “service in any field including service rendered by Government servants” including doctors and scientists. This year’s awardees:
Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra- Art, Kerala: Better known as K.S Chithra or Chithra, the Indian playback singer and Carnatic musician has had a career over four decades, recording songs in various Indian as well as foreign languages.
Tarun Gogoi (Posthumous) – Public Affairs, Assam: The Chief Minister of Assam from 2001 to 2016 and the member of the Indian National Congress, Gogoi was the longest-serving chief minister of the northeastern state.
Chandrashekhar Kambara – Literature and Education, Karnataka: The Indian poet, playwright, folklorist, film director and also the founder-vice-chancellor of Kannada University in Hampi, Kambara is the president of Sahitya Akademi, country’s premier literary institution.
Sumitra Mahajan – Public Affairs, Madhya Pradesh: Mahajan was the Speaker of Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019 and has represented the Indore constituency of Madhya Pradesh from 1989 to 2019 as the longest-serving woman MP.
Nripendra Misra – Civil Service, Uttar Pradesh: Misra is an administrative Service officer from UP cadre who served as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi from 2014 to 2019.
Ram Vilas Paswan (Posthumous) – Public Affairs, Bihar: Paswan was the President of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and the Cabinet Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in the first and second Modi ministries.
Keshubhai Patel (Posthumous) Public Affairs, Gujarat: Patel was the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 1995 and from 1998 to 2001. He was a six-time member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly and was a member of RSS since 1940s.
102 Padma Shri awardees
Padma Shri is the fourth-highest civilian award of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan.
Distinguished people from field of arts, education, industry, literature, science, sports, medicine, social service and public affairs has been awarded today and also foreign nationals who’ve contributed in various ways to India are felicitated with Padma Shri. This year’s awardees:
Shri Gulfam Ahmed Art Uttar Pradesh
Ms. P. Anitha Sports Tamil Nadu
Shri Rama Swamy Annavarapu Art Andhra Pradesh
Shri Subbu Arumugam Art Tamil Nadu
Shri Prakasarao Asavadi Literature and Education Andhra Pradesh
Ms. Bhuri Bai Art Madhya Pradesh
Shri Radhe Shyam Barle Art Chhattisgarh
Shri Dharma Narayan Barma Literature and Education West Bengal
Ms. Lakhimi Baruah Social Work Assam
Shri Biren Kumar Basak Art West Bengal
Ms. Rajni Bector Trade and Industry Punjab
Shri Peter Brook Art United Kingdom
Ms. Sangkhumi Bualchhuak Social Work Mizoram
Shri Gopiram Bargayn Burabhakat Art Assam
Bijoya Chakravarty Public Affairs Assam
Shri Sujit Chattopadhyay Literature and Education West Bengal
Shri Jagdish Chaudhary (Posthumous) Social Work Uttar Pradesh
Shri Tsultrim Chonjor Social Work Ladakh
Ms. Mouma Das Sports West Bengal
Shri Srikant Datar Literature and Education United States of America
Shri Narayan Debnath Art West Bengal
Chutni Devi Social Work Jharkhand
Ms. Dulari Devi Art Bihar
Ms. Radhe Devi Art Manipur
Ms. Shanti Devi Social Work Odisha
Shri Wayan Dibia Art Indonesia
Shri Dadudan Gadhavi Literature & Education Gujarat
Shri Parshuram Atmaram Gangavane Art Maharashtra
Shri Jai Bhagwan Goyal Literature and Education Haryana
Shri Jagadish Chandra Halder Literature and Education West Bengal
Shri Mangal Singh Hazowary Literature and Education Assam
Ms. Anshu Jamsenpa Sports Arunachal Pradesh
Ms. Purnamasi Jani Art Odisha
Matha B. Manjamma Jogati Art Karnataka
Shri Damodaran Kaithapram Art Kerala
Shri Namdeo C Kamble Literature and Education Maharashtra
Shri Maheshbhai & Shri Nareshbhai Kanodia (Duo) * (Posthumous) Art Gujarat
Shri Rajat Kumar Kar Literature and Education Odisha
Shri Rangasami Lakshminarayana Kashyap Literature and Education Karnataka
Ms. Prakash Kaur Social Work Punjab
Shri Nicholas Kazanas Literature and Education Greece
Shri K Kesavasamy Art Puducherry
Shri Ghulam Rasool Khan Art Jammu and Kashmir
Shri Lakha Khan Art Rajasthan
Ms. Sanjida Khatun Art Bangladesh
Shri Vinayak Vishnu Khedekar Art Goa
Ms. Niru Kumar Social Work Delhi
Ms. Lajwanti Art Punjab
Shri Rattan Lal Science and Engineering United States of America
Shri Ali Manikfan Others-Grassroots Innovation Lakshadweep
Shri Ramachandra Manjhi Art Bihar
Shri Dulal Manki Art Assam
Shri Nanadro B Marak Others- Agriculture Meghalaya
Shri Rewben Mashangva Art Manipur
Shri Chandrakant Mehta Literature and Education Gujarat
Dr. Rattan Lal Mittal Medicine Punjab
Shri Madhavan Nambiar Sports Kerala
Shri Shyam Sundar Paliwal Social Work Rajasthan
Dr. Chandrakant Sambhaji Pandav Medicine Delhi
Dr. J N Pande (Posthumous) Medicine Delhi
Shri Solomon Pappaiah Literature and Education- Journalism Tamil Nadu
Ms. Pappammal Others- Agriculture Tamil Nadu
Dr. Krishna Mohan Pathi Medicine Odisha
Ms. Jaswantiben Jamnadas Popat Trade and Industry Maharashtra
Shri Girish Prabhune Social Work Maharashtra
Shri Nanda Prusty Literature and Education Odisha
Shri K K Ramachandra Pulavar Art Kerala
Shri Balan Putheri Literature and Education Kerala
Ms. Birubala Rabha Social Work Assam
Shri Kanaka Raju Art Telangana
Ms. Bombay Jayashri Ramnath Art Tamil Nadu
Shri Satyaram Reang Art Tripura
Dr. Dhananjay Diwakar Sagdeo Medicine Kerala
Shri Ashok Kumar Sahu Medicine Uttar Pradesh
Dr. Bhupendra Kumar Singh Sanjay Medicine Uttarakhand
Ms. Sindhutai Sapkal Social Work Maharashtra
Shri Chaman Lal Sapru (Posthumous) Literature and Education Jammu and Kashmir
Shri Roman Sarmah Literature and Education- Journalism Assam
Shri Imran Shah Literature and Education Assam
Shri Prem Chand Sharma Others- Agriculture Uttarakhand
Shri Arjun Singh Shekhawat Literature and Education Rajasthan
Shri Ram Yatna Shukla Literature and Education Uttar Pradesh
Shri Jitender Singh Shunty Social Work Delhi
Shri Kartar Paras Ram Singh Art Himachal Pradesh
Shri Kartar Singh Art Punjab
Dr. Dilip Kumar Singh Medicine Bihar
Shri Chandra Shekhar Singh Others-Agriculture Uttar Pradesh
Ms. Sudha Hari Narayan Singh Sports Uttar Pradesh
Shri Virender Singh Sports Haryana
Ms. Mridula Sinha (Posthumous) Literature and Education Bihar
Shri K C Sivasankar (Posthumous) Art Tamil Nadu
Guru Maa Kamali Soren Social Work West Bengal
Shri Marachi Subburaman Social Work Tamil Nadu
Shri P Subramanian (Posthumous) Trade and Industry Tamil Nadu
Ms. Nidumolu Sumathi Art Andhra Pradesh
Shri Kapil Tiwari Literature and Education Madhya Pradesh
Father Valles (Posthumous) Literature and Education Spain
Dr. Thiruvengadam Veeraraghavan (Posthumous) Medicine Tamil Nadu
Shri Sridhar Vembu Trade and Industry Tamil Nadu
Shri K Y Venkatesh Sports Karnataka
Ms. Usha Yadav Literature and Education Uttar Pradesh
Col Quazi Sajjad Ali Zahir Public Affairs Bangladesh
(With input from agencies)