Padma Awards : President Droupadi Murmu on Monday conferred Padma awards on 71 prominent personalities, including former Suzuki Motor chief late Osamu Suzuki, famous singer late Pankaj Udhas, Actor Ajit Kumar, Cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin and former Bihar deputy chief minister late Sushil Kumar Modi. A total of 139 eminent personalities were nominated for the country’s civilian awards – Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri – on the eve of the 76th Republic Day on January 25 this year.
71 personalities were given these awards on Monday in the presence of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, among others, at the grand Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan, while the rest will be given these decorations in a separate ceremony soon.
Padma Vibhushan to 4 eminent personalities
Among the awardees, four were awarded the Padma Vibhushan – Suzuki (posthumously), Subramaniam, Reddy and Malayalam writer and film director MT Vasudevan Nair (posthumously).
Puppet artist Bhimavva Doddabalappa Sillekyathara gets Padma Shri
96-year-old puppet artist Bhimavva Doddabalappa Sillekyathara received the Padma Shri award from President Draupadi Murmu for his contribution in the field of arts.
Senior actor and director Shekhar Kapoor, Asian Institute of Gastroenterology and AIG Hospitals Chairman D Nageshwar Reddy, violinist Lakshminarayana Subramaniam and Telugu superstar Nandamuri Balakrishna, also known as Balaiya, are among the other prominent personalities who were given Padma awards by the President.
Padma Bhushan to 10 eminent personalities
A total of 10 eminent personalities were awarded the Padma Bhushan. These include Pankaj Udhas (posthumously), Sushil Kumar Modi (posthumously), Balkrishna Kapoor, former hockey player PR Sreejesh, Tamil actor S. Ajith Kumar, Zydus Lifesciences chairman Pankaj Patel and Indian-American engineer Vinod Dham, known as the ‘father of Pentium’.