New Delhi: The badminton player who became the first Indian woman to win two Olympic medals, P V Sindhu received India’s third-highest civilian award, Padma Bhushan today. Earlier this year, she had defeated China’s He Bing Jiao in the bronze medal match at the Tokyo Olympics.
Along with her late Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leaders Arun Jaitley and Shushma Swaraj also received Padma Bhushan. Swaraj’s daughter Bansuri Swaraj received the award.
President Ram Nath Kovind is presenting the Padma Awards in the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar were among the attendees.
119 Padma Awards will be presented by President this year. The list comprises 7 Padma Vibhushan, 10 Padma Bhushan and 102 Padma Shri Awards. 29 of the awardees are women, 16 Posthumous awardees and 1 transgender awardee.
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: Padma Vibhushan (for exceptional and distinguished service), Padma Bhushan (distinguished service of higher order) and 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.
Here’s the list of 10 Padma Bhushan awardees:
Ms. Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra- Art, Kerala
Credited as K.S Chithra or Chithra, she is an Indian playback singer and Carnatic musician. In a career spanning over four decades, she has recorded over 25,000 songs in various Indian languages including Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Odia,[16][17] Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Tulu, Rajasthani, Urdu, Sanskrit, and Badaga as well as foreign languages such as Malay, Latin, Arabic, Sinhalese, English and French.
Shri Tarun Gogoi (Posthumous) – Public Affairs, Assam
Tarun Gogoi was an Indian politician who served as the Chief Minister of Assam from 2001 to 2016. A member of the Indian National Congress and he led the party to a record three consecutive electoral victories and was the longest-serving chief minister of the state.
Shri Chandrashekhar Kambara – Literature and Education, Karnataka
A prominent Indian poet Chandrashekhar Kambara, playwright, folklorist, film director in Kannada language and the founder-vice-chancellor of Kannada University in Hampi. Kambara is also president of the Sahitya Akademi, country’s premier literary institution, after Vinayak Krishna Gokak and U.R. Ananthamurthy.
Ms. Sumitra Mahajan – Public Affairs, Madhya Pradesh
Sumitra Mahajan is an Indian politician who was the Speaker of Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019. She belongs to Bharatiya Janata Party and represented the Indore constituency of Madhya Pradesh from 1989 to 2019 as the longest-serving Woman Member of Parliament, and then she retired from electoral politics.
Shri Nripendra Misra – Civil Service, Uttar Pradesh
Nripendra Misra is an administrative Service officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre who served as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi from 2014 to 2019.
Shri Ram Vilas Paswan (Posthumous) – Public Affairs, Bihar
A politician from Bihar, Ram Vilas 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. He started his political career as a member of the Samyukta Socialist Party and was elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1969.
Shri Keshubhai Patel (Posthumous) Public Affairs, Gujarat
Keshubhai Patel was an Indian politician who passed away in 2020 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, of Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1960s, Janata Party in 1970s, and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 1980.
Shri Kalbe Sadiq (Posthumous) Others-Spiritualism, Uttar Pradesh
Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, the flag-bearer of amity, progressive thought, education, and spirituality, was awarded the coveted Padma Bhushan. The 83-year-old cleric, who had been suffering from cancer for the last three years, passed away on November 24, 2020.
Shri Rajnikant Devidas Shroff Trade and Industry, Maharashtra
Rajnikant Devidasbhai Shroff, the founder of UPL Ltd. a global provider of sustainable agriculture products and solutions was conferred one of India’s highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan, for his contribution to the field of trade and industry.
Shri Tarlochan Singh Public Affairs, Haryana
Former Member of Parliament Tarlochan Singh was awarded the Padma Bhushan. Representing Haryana, he was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 2004 to 2010 and also the Press Secretary to former President Giani Zail Singh. He was the former chairman of the National Commission of Minorities (NCM) and former MP who served as a member of the National Human Rights Commission.
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