Padma Awards: Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan & Padma Shri

Padma Awards – one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The Awards are given in various disciplines / fields of activities, viz.- art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc. ‘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. The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.

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.

Padma Awards: 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 2021

The list comprises 7 Padma Vibhushan, 10 Padma Bhushan and 102 Padma Shri Awards. 29 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners / NRI / PIO / OCI, 16 Posthumous awardees and 1 transgender awardee.

Padma Vibhushan 2021 (7)

Padma Bhushan 2021 (10)

1. Ms. Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra: Art Kerala
2. Shri Tarun Gogoi (Posthumous): Public Affairs Assam
3. Shri Chandrashekhar Kambara: Literature and Education Karnataka
4. Ms. Sumitra Mahajan: Public Affairs Madhya Pradesh
5. Shri Nripendra Misra: Civil Service Uttar Pradesh
6. Shri Ram Vilas Paswan (Posthumous): Public Affairs Bihar
7. Shri Keshubhai Patel (Posthumous): Public Affairs Gujarat
8. Shri Kalbe Sadiq (Posthumous): Others-Spiritualism Uttar Pradesh
9. Shri Rajnikant Devidas Shroff: Trade and Industry Maharashtra
10. Shri Tarlochan Singh: Public Affairs Haryana

Padma Shri 2021 (102)

1. Shri Gulfam Ahmed Art Uttar Pradesh
2. Ms. P. Anitha Sports Tamil Nadu
3. Shri Rama Swamy Annavarapu Art Andhra Pradesh
4. Shri Subbu Arumugam Art Tamil Nadu
5. Shri Prakasarao Asavadi Literature and Education Andhra Pradesh
6. Ms. Bhuri Bai Art Madhya Pradesh
7. Shri Radhe Shyam Barle Art Chhattisgarh
8. Shri Dharma Narayan Barma Literature and Education West Bengal
9. Ms. Lakhimi Baruah Social Work Assam
10. Shri Biren Kumar Basak Art West Bengal
11. Ms. Rajni Bector Trade and Industry Punjab
12. Shri Peter Brook Art United Kingdom
13. Ms. Sangkhumi Bualchhuak Social Work Mizoram
14. Shri Gopiram Bargayn Burabhakat Art Assam
15. Ms. Bijoya Chakravarty Public Affairs Assam
16. Shri Sujit Chattopadhyay Literature and Education West Bengal
17. Shri Jagdish Chaudhary (Posthumous) Social Work Uttar Pradesh
18. Shri Tsultrim Chonjor Social Work Ladakh
19. Ms. Mouma Das Sports West Bengal
20. Shri Srikant Datar Literature and Education United States of America
21. Shri Narayan Debnath Art West Bengal
22. Ms. Chutni Devi Social Work Jharkhand
23. Ms. Dulari Devi Art Bihar
24. Ms. Radhe Devi Art Manipur
25. Ms. Shanti Devi Social Work Odisha
26. Shri Wayan Dibia Art Indonesia
27. Shri Dadudan Gadhavi Literature & Education Gujarat
28. Shri Parshuram Atmaram Gangavane Art Maharashtra
29. Shri Jai Bhagwan Goyal Literature and Education Haryana
30. Shri Jagadish Chandra Halder Literature and Education West Bengal
31. Shri Mangal Singh Hazowary Literature and Education Assam
32. Ms. Anshu Jamsenpa Sports Arunachal Pradesh
33. Ms. Purnamasi Jani Art Odisha
34. Matha B. Manjamma Jogati Art Karnataka
35. Shri Damodaran Kaithapram Art Kerala
36. Shri Namdeo C Kamble Literature and Education Maharashtra
37. Shri Maheshbhai & Shri Nareshbhai Kanodia (Duo) * (Posthumous) Art Gujarat
38. Shri Rajat Kumar Kar Literature and Education Odisha
39. Shri Rangasami Lakshminarayana Kashyap Literature and Education Karnataka
40. Ms. Prakash Kaur Social Work Punjab
41. Shri Nicholas Kazanas Literature and Education Greece
42. Shri K Kesavasamy Art Puducherry
43. Shri Ghulam Rasool Khan Art Jammu and Kashmir
44. Shri Lakha Khan Art Rajasthan
45. Ms. Sanjida Khatun Art Bangladesh
46. Shri Vinayak Vishnu Khedekar Art Goa
47. Ms. Niru Kumar Social Work Delhi
48. Ms. Lajwanti Art Punjab
49. Shri Rattan Lal Science and Engineering United States of America
50. Shri Ali Manikfan Others-Grassroots Innovation Lakshadweep
51. Shri Ramachandra Manjhi Art Bihar
52. Shri Dulal Manki Art Assam
53. Shri Nanadro B Marak Others- Agriculture Meghalaya
54. Shri Rewben Mashangva Art Manipur
55. Shri Chandrakant Mehta Literature and Education Gujarat
56. Dr. Rattan Lal Mittal Medicine Punjab
57. Shri Madhavan Nambiar Sports Kerala
58. Shri Shyam Sundar Paliwal Social Work Rajasthan
59. Dr. Chandrakant Sambhaji Pandav Medicine Delhi
60. Dr. J N Pande (Posthumous) Medicine Delhi
61. Shri Solomon Pappaiah Literature and Education- Journalism Tamil Nadu
62. Ms. Pappammal Others- Agriculture Tamil Nadu
63. Dr. Krishna Mohan Pathi Medicine Odisha
64. Ms. Jaswantiben Jamnadas Popat Trade and Industry Maharashtra
65. Shri Girish Prabhune Social Work Maharashtra
66. Shri Nanda Prusty Literature and Education Odisha
67. Shri K K Ramachandra Pulavar Art Kerala
68. Shri Balan Putheri Literature and Education Kerala
69. Ms. Birubala Rabha Social Work Assam
70. Shri Kanaka Raju Art Telangana
71. Ms. Bombay Jayashri Ramnath Art Tamil Nadu
72. Shri Satyaram Reang Art Tripura
73. Dr. Dhananjay Diwakar Sagdeo Medicine Kerala
74. Shri Ashok Kumar Sahu Medicine Uttar Pradesh
75. Dr. Bhupendra Kumar Singh Sanjay Medicine Uttarakhand
76. Ms. Sindhutai Sapkal Social Work Maharashtra
77. Shri Chaman Lal Sapru (Posthumous) Literature and Education Jammu and Kashmir
78. Shri Roman Sarmah Literature and Education- Journalism Assam
79. Shri Imran Shah Literature and Education Assam
80. Shri Prem Chand Sharma Others- Agriculture Uttarakhand
81. Shri Arjun Singh Shekhawat Literature and Education Rajasthan
82. Shri Ram Yatna Shukla Literature and Education Uttar Pradesh
83. Shri Jitender Singh Shunty Social Work Delhi
84. Shri Kartar Paras Ram Singh Art Himachal Pradesh
85. Shri Kartar Singh Art Punjab
86. Dr. Dilip Kumar Singh Medicine Bihar
87. Shri Chandra Shekhar Singh Others-Agriculture Uttar Pradesh
88. Ms. Sudha Hari Narayan Singh Sports Uttar Pradesh
89. Shri Virender Singh Sports Haryana
90. Ms. Mridula Sinha (Posthumous) Literature and Education Bihar
91. Shri K C Sivasankar (Posthumous) Art Tamil Nadu
92. Guru Maa Kamali Soren Social Work West Bengal
93. Shri Marachi Subburaman Social Work Tamil Nadu
94. Shri P Subramanian (Posthumous) Trade and Industry Tamil Nadu
95. Ms. Nidumolu Sumathi Art Andhra Pradesh
96. Shri Kapil Tiwari Literature and Education Madhya Pradesh
97. Father Vallés (Posthumous) Literature and Education Spain
98. Dr. Thiruvengadam Veeraraghavan (Posthumous) Medicine Tamil Nadu
99. Shri Sridhar Vembu Trade and Industry Tamil Nadu
100. Shri K Y Venkatesh Sports Karnataka
101. Ms. Usha Yadav Literature and Education Uttar Pradesh
102. Col Quazi Sajjad Ali Zahir Public Affairs Bangladesh

Note: * In duo case, the award is counted as one