Padma Awards: President Kovind confers top honours at Rashtrapati Bhavan; check full list

President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday presented Padma awards, the most prestigious awards in the country, to the recipients at the Civil Investiture Ceremony-I at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. As a part of it, a total of 119 awards will be presented in a ceremony conducted n November 8 and 9, out of which seven Padma Vibhushan, 10 Padma Bhushan, and 102 Padma Shri awards will be conferred to the recipients. 

The ceremony which is to be held in four sessions commenced on Monday, November 8, with Padma Awards 2020 and Padma Awards 2021 on Tuesday, November 9. Earlier on Monday, President Ram Nath Kovind conferred Padma Awards to notable personalities such as PV Sindhu, singer Pandit Channulal Mishra, and footballer Oinam Bembem Devi among others. Apart from them, Padma Shri awards were conferred to music composer Adnan Sami Khan and Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut among others. 

Here's the full list of the awardees: 

Padma Awards 2021

While the Padma Vibhushan awardees include Shri Shinzo Abe, Shri SP Balasubramaniam, Dr Belle Monappa Hegde, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, Shri Narinder Singh Kapany, Shri B B Lal, and Shri Sudarshan Sahoo, the list of Padma Bhushan Awards include ministers like Shri Tarun Gogoi, Shri Chandrashekhar Kambara, Ms Sumitra Mahajan, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, and Shri Tarlochan Singh among others. 

Meanwhile, 29 of the awardees include women, 16 Posthumous awardees, and one transgender awardee. 

Padma Awards are announced on an annual basis on Republic Day eve and are given in three categories. While Padma Vibhushan is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service, Padma Bhushan is awarded for distinguished service of higher-order followed by the Padma Shri which is awarded for distinguished service. 

These awards seek to recognise the achievements of individuals in all fields of activities or disciplines involving public service. The awards are conferred on the basis of the recommendations made by the Padma Awards committee constituted by the Prime Minister every year. The Padma awards could not be held in the year 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Notably, several dignitaries and personalities were present at the ceremony which included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Home Minister Amit Shah among others. 

Image: Twitter/@RashtrapatiBhvn