President Ramnath Kovind on Monday exhibited 55 of the 112 Padma grants – a Padma Vibhushan, eight Padma Bhushan and 46 Padma Shri – to recognized identities from various fields including a doctor pair.The Padma Vibhushan, the nation’s second highest civilian honour, went to theater identity and author Balwant Moreshwar Purandare from Maharashtra.Among the other prominent recipients in other categories were late journalist-writer Kuldip Nayar, Prabhu Deva, Shankar Mahadevan and the late Kader Khan from the film industry.Doctors Ravindra and Smita Kolhe were awarded as a pair, which is considered one Padma Shri award, a Rashtrapati Bhavan explanation said.
There are a total of four Padma Vibhushan award winners.The Padma Bhushan awards – India’s third most civilian honour – were given to Punjab political pioneer and Rajya Sabha member Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa; former Cisco CEO and Chairman of the US-India Strategic Partnership forum John Chambers; Malayalam film actor Viswanathan Mohanlal; and previous Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha Kariya Munda. Parliamentarian Hukumdev Narayan Yadav and sitar player Budhaditya Mukherjee are among the Padma Bhushan beneficiaries. Kuldip Nayar’s award was gathered by wife Bharti.
The Padma Shri grants were given upon table tennis player Achanta Sharath Kamal, wrestler Bajrang Punia, chess player Harika Dronavalli, doctors Ilias Ali and Mammen Chandy, planner Bimal Pate, archaeologist Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti, educationist Ganpat I. Patel, mystic Bangaru Adigalar, social workers Muktaben Pankajkumar Dagli, Rajani Kant and Bulu Imam, Bihar MLA Bhagirathi Devi, Carnatic music example Kadamputharamadom Gopalan Thanthri Jayan just as well as former Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar.
The remaining recipients will be awarded in a ceremony later.Twenty-one of the total awardees are women, 11 foreigners or non-resident Indians or Person of Indian Origin or Overseas Citizen of India and one transgender person.The awards are given in art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports and civil service among others.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.
