History:
Padma Awards were instituted in the year 1954. Except for brief interruptions during the years 1977 to 1980 and 1993 to 1997, these awards have been announced every year on Republic Day. The award is given in three categories, viz. Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri, in the decreasing order of importance.
- Padma Vibhushan for “exceptional and distinguished service”. Padma Vibhushan is the second-highest civilian award in India.
- Padma Bhushan for “distinguished service of a high order”. Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in India.
- Padma Shri is awarded for “distinguished service”. Padma Shri is the fourth-highest civilian award in India.
Unlike national honors, the Padma awards do not include cash allowances, benefits, or special concessions in rail / air travel. Per a December 1995 judgment of the Supreme Court of India, no titles or honorifics are associated with the Bharat Ratna or any of the Padma awards; honorees cannot use them or their initials as suffixes, prefixes or pre- and post-nominals attached to the awardee’s name. This includes any such use on letterheads, invitation cards, posters, books etc. In the case of any misuse, the awardee will forfeit the award, and he or she is cautioned against any such misuse upon receiving the honour.
- The decoration comprises a sanad (Certificate) issued under the hand and seal of the President and a Medallion.
- The recipients are also given a replica of the medallion, which they can wear during any ceremonial / State functions etc., if they desire.
- A commemorative brochure giving out brief details in respect of each award winner is also released on the day of the investiture ceremony.
Selection Process:
These awards seek to recognize work of any distinction… and is given for distinguished and exceptional achievements / service in all fields of activities / disciplines, such as art, literature and education, sports, medicine, social work, science and engineering, public affairs, civil service, trade and industry, etc. All persons without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex are eligible for these awards.
In 2015, the BJP government decided to end the practice of ministers recommending names for Padma awards and replaced it with any Indian citizen recommending a person for Padma awards online. The government said that this was done with the belief that every citizen has something to contribute to the nation and that contribution should be integrated with the country’s growth. Accordingly, several hitherto unknown citizens were awarded Padma awards in 2017. The role of the state governments was also minimized.
Padma Awards 2020
These awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March / April every year. This year the President has approved conferment of 141 Padma Awards including 4 duo cases (in a duo case, the Award is counted as one) as per list below. The list comprises 7 Padma Vibhushan, 16 Padma Bhushan and 118 Padma Shri Awards. 33 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 18 persons from the category of Foreigners / NRI / PIO / OCI and 12 Posthumous awardees.
Padma Vibhushan (7)
Padma Bhushan (18)
- M. Mumtaz Ali (Sri M) Others – Spiritualism Kerala
- Syed Muazzem Ali (Posthumous) Public Affairs Bangladesh
- Muzaffar Hussain Baig Public Affairs Jammu and Kashmir
- Ajoy Chakravorty Art West Bengal
- Manoj Das Literature and Education Puducherry
- Balkrishna Doshi Others – Architecture Gujarat
- Krishnammal Jagannathan Social Work Tamil Nadu
- S. C. Jamir Public Affairs Nagaland
- Anil Prakash Joshi Social Work Uttarakhand
- Dr. Tsering Landol Medicine Ladakh
- Anand Mahindra Trade and Industry Maharashtra
- Neelakanta Ramakrishna Madhava Menon (Posthumous) Public Affairs Kerala
- Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar (Posthumous) Public Affairs Goa
- Prof. Jagdish Sheth Literature and Education USA
- P. V. Sindhu Sports Telangana
- Venu Srinivasan Trade and Industry Tamil Nadu
Padma Shri (118)
- Guru Shashadhar Acharya Art Jharkhand
- Dr. Yogi Aeron Medicine Uttarakhand
- Jai Prakash Agarwal Trade and Industry Delhi
- Jagdish Lal Ahuja Social Work Punjab
- Kazi Masum Akhtar Literature and Education West Bengal
- Gloria Arieira Literature and Education Brazil
- Khan Zaheerkhan Bakhtiyarkhan Sports Maharashtra
- Dr. Padmavathy Bandopadhyay Medicine Uttar Pradesh
- Dr. Sushovan Banerjee Medicine West Bengal
- Dr. Digambar Behera Medicine Chandigarh
- Dr. Damayanti Beshra Literature and Education Odisha
- Pawar Popatrao Bhaguji Social Work Maharashtra
- Himmata Ram Bhambhu Social Work Rajasthan
- Sanjeev Bikhchandani Trade and Industry Uttar Pradesh
- Gafurbhai M. Bilakhia Trade and Industry Gujarat
- Bob Blackman Public Affairs United Kingdom
- Indira P. P. Bora Art Assam
- Madan Singh Chauhan Art Chhattisgarh
- Usha Chaumar Social Work Rajasthan
- Lil Bahadur Chettri Literature and Education Assam
- Lalitha & Ms. Saroja Chidambaram (Duo)* Art Tamil Nadu
- Dr. Vajira Chitrasena Art Sri Lanka
- Dr. Purushottam Dadheech Art Madhya Pradesh
- Utsav Charan Das Art Odisha
- Prof. Indra Dassanayake (Posthumous) Literature and Education Sri Lanka
- H. M. Desai Literature and Education Gujarat
- Manohar Devadoss Art Tamil Nadu
- Oinam Bembem Devi Sports Manipur
- Lia Diskin Social Work Brazil
- M. P. Ganesh Sports Karnataka
- Dr. Bangalore Gangadhar Medicine Karnataka
- Dr. Raman Gangakhedkar Science and Engineering Maharashtra
- Barry Gardiner Public Affairs United Kingdom
- Chewang Motup Goba Trade and Industry Ladakh
- Bharat Goenka Trade and Industry Karnataka
- Yadla Gopalarao Art Andhra Pradesh
- Mitrabhanu Gountia Art Odisha
- Tulasi Gowda Social Work Karnataka
- Sujoy K. Guha Science and Engineering Bihar
- Harekala Hajabba Social Work Karnataka
- Enamul Haque Others-Archaeology Bangladesh
- Madhu Mansuri Hasmukh Art Jharkhand
- Abdul Jabbar (Posthumous) Social Work Madhya Pradesh
- Bimal Kumar Jain Social Work Bihar
- Meenakshi Jain Literature and Education Delhi
- Nemnath Jain Trade and Industry Madhya Pradesh
- Shanti Jain Art Bihar
- Sudhir Jain Science and Engineering Gujarat
- Benichandra Jamatia Literature and Education Tripura
- K. V. Sampath Kumar & Ms. Vidushi Jayalakshmi K.S. (Duo)* Literature and Education-Journalism Karnataka
- Karan Johar Art Maharashtra
- Dr. Leela Joshi Medicine Madhya Pradesh
- Sarita Joshi Art Maharashtra
- C. Kamlova Literature and Education Mizoram
- Dr. Ravi Kannan R. Medicine Assam
- Ekta Kapoor Art Maharashtra
- Yazdi Naoshirwan Karanjia Art Gujarat
- Narayan J. Joshi Karayal Literature and Education Gujarat
- Dr. Narindar Nath Khanna Medicine Uttar Pradesh
- Naveen Khanna Science and Engineering Delhi
- S. P. Kothari Literature and Education USA
- V. K. Munusamy Krishnapakthar Art Puducherry
- M. K. Kunjol Social Work Kerala
- Manmohan Mahapatra (Posthumous) Art Odisha
- Ustad Anwar Khan Mangniyar Art Rajasthan
- Kattungal Subramaniam Manilal Science and Engineering Kerala
- Munna Master Art Rajasthan
- Prof. Abhiraj Rajendra Mishra Literature and Education Himachal Pradesh
- Binapani Mohanty Literature and Education Odisha
- Dr. Arunoday Mondal Medicine West Bengal
- Dr. Prithwindra Mukherjee Literature and Education France
- Sathyanarayan Mundayoor Social Work Arunachal Pradesh
- Manilal Nag Art West Bengal
- N. Chandrasekharan Nair Literature and Education Kerala
- Dr. Tetsu Nakamura (Posthumous) Social Work Afghanistan
- Shiv Datt Nirmohi Literature and Education Jammu and Kashmir
- Pu Lalbiakthanga Pachuau Literature and Education-Journalism Mizoram
- Moozhikkal Pankajakshi Art Kerala
- Dr. Prasanta Kumar Pattanaik Literature and Education USA
- Jogendra Nath Phukan Literature and Education Assam
- Rahibai Soma Popere Others-Agriculture Maharashtra
- Yogesh Praveen Literature and Education Uttar Pradesh
- Jitu Rai Sports Uttar Pradesh
- Tarundeep Rai Sports Sikkim
- S. Ramakrishnan Social Work Tamil Nadu
- Rani Rampal Sports Haryana
- Kangana Ranaut Art Maharashtra
- Dalavai Chalapathi Rao Art Andhra Pradesh
- Shahbuddin Rathod Literature and Education Gujarat
- Kalyan Singh Rawat Social Work Uttarakhand
- Chintala Venkat Reddy Others-Agriculture Telangana
- Dr. Shanti Roy Medicine Bihar
- Radhammohan & Ms. Sabarmatee (Duo)* Others-Agriculture Odisha
- Batakrushna Sahoo Others-Animal Husbandry Odisha
- Trinity Saioo Others-Agriculture Meghalaya
- Adnan Sami Art Maharashtra
- Vijay Sankeshwar Trade and Industry Karnataka
- Dr. Kushal Konwar Sarma Medicine Assam
- Sayed Mehboob Shah Qadri alias Sayedbhai Social Work Maharashtra
- Mohammed Sharif Social Work Uttar Pradesh
- Shyam Sunder Sharma Art Bihar
- Dr. Gurdip Singh Medicine Gujarat
- Ramjee Singh Social Work Bihar
- Vashishtha Narayan Singh (Posthumous) Science and Engineering Bihar
- Daya Prakash Sinha Art Uttar Pradesh
- Dr. Sandra Desa Souza Medicine Maharashtra
- Vijayasarathi Sribhashyam Literature and Education Telangana
- Kalee Shabi Mahaboob & Shri Sheik Mahaboob Subani (Duo)* Art Tamil Nadu
- Javed Ahmad Tak Social Work Jammu and Kashmir
- Pradeep Thalappil Science and Engineering Tamil Nadu
- Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi Literature and Education Arunachal Pradesh
- Robert Thurman Literature and Education USA
- Agus Indra Udayana Social Work Indonesia
- Harish Chandra Verma Science and Engineering Uttar Pradesh
- Sundaram Verma Social Work Rajasthan
- Dr. Romesh Tekchand Wadhwani Trade and Industry USA
- Suresh Wadkar Art Maharashtra
- Prem Watsa Trade and Industry Canada