Padma Awards to Personalities:

General Bipin Rawat, first Chief of Defence Staff who died in an air crash recently, and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh who headed the State during the Babri Masjid demolition were conferred with Padma Vibushan posthumously on the eve of the Republic Day. Padma Vibhushan, part of the Padma series, is the second highest civilian award.

Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Ghulam Nabi Azad and former West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee were awarded Padma Bhushan.

Bharat Biotech’s Suchitra and Krishna Ella, Serum Institute of India’s Cyrus Poonawalla, prime manufacturers of the two COVID-19 vaccines, were also accorded with Padma Bhushan along with Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, and former Union Home Secretary and Comptroller General of India (CAG) Rajiv Mehrishi.

Satya Narayana Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft Corporation, Sundararajan Pichai, CEO, Google and Alphabet were also accorded with Padma Bhushan.

Punjabi singer Gurmeet Bawa was given Padma Bhushan posthumously.

Neeraj Chopra, gold medallist at 2021 Tokyo Olympian, paralympics medal winner Avani Lakhera and singer Sonu Nigam were given Padma Shri.

Guruprasad Mohapatra, former AAI chairman and DPIIT Secretary, was given Padma Shri posthumously.

Radheyshyam Khemka, president of Gita Press, known for publishing Hindu religious books, was accorded Padma Vibhushan posthumously.

This year the President has approved conferment of 128 Padma awards comprising four Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 107 Padma Shri Awards. While 34 awardees are women, the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/Non–Resident Indians and Overseas Citizens of India.