New Delhi: On the eve of the 73rd Republic on Tuesday, the government announced the names of the Padma awardees. The key names on the list include India’s first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh (both have been posthumously conferred with Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest highest civilian honour), while Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, Star para-athlete Devendra Jhajharia, former West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, SII MD Cyrus Poonawalla have been honoured with Padma Bhushan.
Padma Awards - one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, are conferred in three categories, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The Awards are given in various disciplines, fields of activities including art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, and civil service.
‘Padma Vibhushan’ is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; ‘Padma Bhushan’ for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year. These awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March/ April every year.
This year the President has approved conferment of 128 Padma Awards including 2 duo case (in a duo case, the Award is counted as one). The list comprises 4 Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 107 Padma Shri Awards. 34 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 13 Posthumous awardees.
The complete list of the Padma awardees can be accessed here.
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