• President Droupadi Murmu has approved the conferment of 132 Padma Awards, including five Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 110 Padma Shri Awards.

• The awards were announced by the ministry of home affairs on the eve of the 75th Republic Day.

• Former Vice President M.Venkaiah Naidu, actors Vyjayanthimala and Chiranjeevi, Sulabh International founder late Bindeshwar Pathak, and Bharatanatyam exponent Padma Subrahmanyam awarded country’s second highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan.

• The government had already announced that it would confer the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, on two-time Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur posthumously.

• Padma Bhushan will be awarded to 17 prominent persons including first woman judge of Supreme Court late M.Fathima Beevi, Bombay Samachar owner Hormusji N.Cama, actor Mithun Chakraborty, Foxconn Chairman Young Liu from Taiwan, actor late Vijayakanth, singer Usha Uthup, BJP veteran Ram Naik, Group Editor and CEO of Gujarati newspaper Janmabhoomi Kundan Vyas, veteran actor and director Dattatray Ambadas Mayaloo, former Union health minister C.P.Thakur and BJP leader O.Rajagopal.

• Tennis player Rohan Bopanna, hockey player Harbinder Singh, and squash player Joshna Chinappa, are among 110 personalities awarded Padma Shri. 

• As many as 30 of the awardees are women and the list also includes eight persons from the category of foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and nine posthumous awardees.

Padma Awards

• The Padma Awards are one of the highest civilian honours of India announced annually on the eve of Republic Day.

The awards are given in three categories: 

i) Padma Vibhushan (for exceptional and distinguished service).

ii) Padma Bhushan (distinguished service of higher order).

iii) Padma Shri (distinguished service).

• The award seeks to recognise achievements in all fields of activities or disciplines where an element of public service is involved.

• The Padma Awards are conferred on the recommendations made by the Padma Awards Committee, which is constituted by the Prime Minister every year. The nomination process is open to the public. Even self-nomination can be made.

Bharat Ratna

• Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award of the country. It is awarded in recognition of exceptional service/performance of the highest order in any field of human endeavour. It is treated on a different footing from Padma Award. 

• The recommendations for Bharat Ratna are made by the Prime Minister to the President. No formal recommendations for Bharat Ratna are necessary. The number of Bharat Ratna Awards is restricted to a maximum of three in a particular year. 

When were the awards instituted?

• The government instituted two civilian awards — Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhushan in 1954. 

• Padma Vibhushan had three classes namely Pahela Varg, Dusra Varg and Tisra Varg. These were subsequently renamed as Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.

• The award seeks to recognise works of distinction and is given for distinguished and exceptional achievements / service in all fields of activities / disciplines.

The fields include:

i) Art (includes music, painting, sculpture, photography, cinema and theatre)

ii) Social Work (includes social service, charitable service and community projects)

iii) Public Affairs (includes law, public life and politics)

iv) Science & Engineering (includes space engineering, nuclear science, information technology and research & development)

v) Trade & Industry (includes banking, economic activities, management, promotion of tourism and business)

vi) Medicine (includes medical research, distinction / specialisation in Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Siddha, Allopathy and Naturopathy)

vii) Literature & Education (includes journalism, teaching, book composing, literature, poetry, promotion of education and literacy, and education reforms)

viii) Civil Service (includes distinction / excellence in administration by government servants)

ix) Sports (includes popular sports, adventure, mountaineering and yoga)

x) Others (fields not covered above and may include propagation of Indian culture, protection of human rights, wildlife protection and conservation).

• The award is normally not conferred posthumously. However, in highly deserving cases, the government could consider giving an award posthumously.

• A higher category of Padma award can be conferred on a person only where a period of at least five years has elapsed since conferment of the earlier Padma award. However, in highly deserving cases, a relaxation can be made by the Awards Committee.

• The award does not amount to a title and cannot be used as a suffix or prefix to the awardees’ name.

This year’s awardees:

Padma Vibhushan

• Vyjayanthimala - Art - Tamil Nadu

• K. Chiranjeevi - Art - Andhra Pradesh

• M. Venkaiah Naidu - Public Affairs - Andhra Pradesh

• Bindeshwar Pathak (posthumous) - Social Work - Bihar

• Padma Subrahmanyam - Art - Tamil Nadu

Padma Bhushan

• Fathima Beevi (posthumous) - Public Affairs - Kerala

• Hormusji N. Cama - Literature & Education - Maharashtra

• Mithun Chakraborty- Art - West Bengal

• Sitaram Jindal - Trade & Industry - Karnataka

• Young Liu - Trade & Industry - Taiwan

• Ashwin Balachand Mehta - Medicine - Maharashtra

• Satyabrata Mookherjee (posthumous) - Public Affairs - West Bengal

• Ram Naik - Public Affairs - Maharashtra

• Tejas Madhusudan Patel - Medicine - Gujarat

• O. Rajagopal - Public Affairs - Kerala

• Dattatray Ambadas Mayaloo alias Rajdutt - Art - Maharashtra

• Togdan Rinpoche (posthumous) - Spiritualism - Ladakh

• Pyarelal Sharma - Art - Maharashtra

• Chandreshwar Prasad Thakur - Medicine - Bihar

• Usha Uthup - Art - West Bengal

• Vijayakanth (posthumous) - Art - Tamil Nadu

• Kundan Vyas - Literature & Education - Maharashtra

Padma Shri

• Khalil Ahamad - Art - Uttar Pradesh

• Badrappan M - Art - Tamil Nadu

• Kaluram Bamaniya - Art - Madhya Pradesh

• Rezwana Choudhury Bannya - Art - Bangladesh

• Naseem Bano - Art - Uttar Pradesh

• Ramlal Bareth - Art - Chhattisgarh

• Gita Roy Barman - Art - West Bengal

• Parbati Barua - Social Work - Assam

• Sarbeswar Basumatary - Agriculture - Assam

• Som Datt Battu - Art - Himachal Pradesh

• Takdira Begum - Art - West Bengal

• Sathyanarayana Beleri - Agriculture - Kerala

• Drona Bhuyan - Art - Assam

• Ashok Kumar Biswas - Art - Bihar

• Rohan Machanda Bopanna - Sports - Karnataka

• Smriti Rekha Chakma - Art - Tripura

• Narayan Chakraborty - Science & Engineering - West Bengal

• A. Velu Ananda Chari - Art - Telangana

• Ram Chet Chaudhary - Science & Engineering - Uttar Pradesh

• K. Chellammal - Agriculture - Andaman & Nicobar Islands

• Joshna Chinappa - Sports - Tamil Nadu

• Charlotte Chopin - Yoga - France

• Raghuveer Choudhary - Literature & Education - Gujarat

• Joe D’Cruz - Literature & Education - Tamil Nadu

• Ghulam Nabi Dar - Art - Jammu & Kashmir

• Chitta Ranjan Debbarma - Spiritualism - Tripura

• Uday Vishwanath Deshpande - Sports - Maharashtra

• Prema Dhanraj - Medicine - Karnataka

• Radha Krishan Dhiman - Medicine - Uttar Pradesh

• Manohar Krishna Dole - Medicine - Maharashtra

• Pierre Sylvain Filliozat - Literature & Education - France

• Mahabir Singh Guddu - Art - Haryana

• Anupama Hoskere - Art - Karnataka

• Yazdi Maneksha Italia - Medicine - Gujarat

• Rajaram Jain - Literature & Education - Uttar Pradesh

• Jankilal - Art - Rajasthan

• Ratan Kahar - Art - West Bengal

• Yashwant Singh Katoch - Literature & Education - Uttarakhand

• Zahir I. Kazi - Literature & Education - Maharashtra

• Gaurav Khanna - Sports - Uttar Pradesh

• Surendra Kishore - Literature & Education - Bihar

• Dasari Kondappa - Art - Telangana

• Sridhar Makam Krishnamurthy - Literature & Education - Karnataka

• Yanung Jamoh Lego - Agriculture - Arunachal Pradesh

• Jordan Lepcha - Art - Sikkim

• Satendra Singh Lohia - Sports - Madhya Pradesh

• Binod Maharana - Art - Odisha

• Purnima Mahato - Sports - Jharkhand

• Uma Maheshwari.D - Art - Andhra Pradesh

• Dukhu Majhi - Social Work - West Bengal

• Ram Kumar Mallick - Art - Bihar

• Hemchand Manjhi - Medicine - Chhattisgarh

• Chandrashekhar Mahadeorao Meshram - Medicine - Maharashtra

• Surendra Mohan Mishra (posthumous) - Art - Uttar Pradesh

• Ali Mohammed & Shri Ghani Mohammed (duo) - Art - Rajasthan

• Kalpana Morparia - Trade & Industry - Maharashtra

• Chami Murmu - Social Work - Jharkhand

• Sasindran Muthuvel - Public Affairs - Papua New Guinea

• G. Nachiyar - Medicine - Tamil Nadu

• Kiran Nadar - Art - Delhi

• Pakaravur Chithran Namboodiripad (posthumous) - Literature & Education - Kerala

• Narayanan E.P - Art - Kerala

• Shailesh Nayak - Science & Engineering - Delhi

• Harish Nayak (posthumous) - Literature & Education - Gujarat

• Fred Negrit - Literature & Education - France

• Hari Om - Science & Engineering - Haryana

• Bhagabat Padhan - Art - Odisha

• Sanatan Rudra Pal - Art - West Bengal

• Shankar Baba Pundlikrao Papalkar - Social Work - Maharashtra

• Radhe Shyam Pareek - Medicine - Uttar Pradesh

• Dayal Mavjibhai Parmar - Medicine - Gujarat

• Binod Kumar Pasayat - Art - Odisha

• Silbi Passah - Art - Meghalaya

• Shanti Devi Paswan & Shri Shivan Paswan (duo) - Art - Bihar

• Sanjay Anant Patil - Agriculture - Goa

• Muni Narayana Prasad - Literature & Education - Kerala

• K.S. Rajanna - Social Work - Karnataka

• Chandrashekar Channapatna Rajannachar - Medicine - Karnataka

• Bhagwatilal Rajpurohit - Literature & Education - Madhya Pradesh

• Romalo Ram - Art - Jammu & Kashmir

• Navjivan Rastogi - Literature & Education - Uttar Pradesh

• Nirmal Rishi - Art - Punjab

• Pran Sabharwal - Art - Punjab

• Gaddam Sammaiah - Art - Telangana

• Sangthankima - Social Work - Mizoram

• Machihan Sasa - Art - Manipur

• Omprakash Sharma - Art - Madhya Pradesh

• Eklabya Sharma - Science & Engineering - West Bengal

• Ram Chander Sihag - Science & Engineering - Haryana

• Harbinder Singh - Sports - Delhi

• Gurvinder Singh - Social Work - Haryana

• Godawari Singh - Art - Uttar Pradesh

• Ravi Prakash Singh - Science & Engineering - Mexico

• Seshampatti T. Sivalingam - Art - Tamil Nadu

• Somanna - Social Work - Karnataka

• Kethavath Somlal - Literature & Education - Telangana

• Shashi Soni - Trade & Industry - Karnataka

• Urmila Srivastava - Art - Uttar Pradesh

• Nepal Chandra Sutradhar (posthumous) - Art - West Bengal

• Gopinath Swain - Art - Odisha

• Laxman Bhatt Tailang - Art - Rajasthan

• Maya Tandon - Social Work - Rajasthan

• Aswathi Thirunal Gouri Lakshmi Bayi - Literature & Education - Kerala

• Jagdish Labhshanker Trivedi - Art - Gujarat

• Sano Vamuzo - Social Work - Nagaland

• Balakrishnan Sadanam Puthiya Veetil - Art - Kerala

• Kurella Vittalacharya - Literature & Education - Telangana

• Kiran Vyas - Yoga - France

• Jageshwar Yadav - Social Work - Chhattisgarh

• Babu Ram Yadav - Art - Uttar Pradesh.

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