NEW DELHI (TIP): Like every year, the Indian government has announced the highly prestigious Padma Awards for the year 2015 on the occasion of Republic (26th January).
Padma Awards, which are one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, are conferred in three categories – “Padma Vibhushan”, “Padma Bhushan” and “Padma Shri”.
“Padma Vibhushan” is the second highest civilian award after “Bharat ratna” given for exceptional and distinguished service to the nation in any field; “Padma Bhushan” is the third highest civilian honor conferred to recognize distinguished service of high order in any field and “Padma Shri” is the fourth highest civilian award given to Indian citizens to acknowledge their distinguished service in various spheres of activity.
The Padma Awards are awarded to distinguished individuals for their exceptional contribution in various disciplines including art, social work, public affairs, science, trade, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.
The President of India Pranab Mukherjee approved conferment of Padma Awards on 104 individuals. On 26th January 2015, the 2015 list of Padma Awardees was announce which comprises of 9 Padma Vibhushan awardees, 20 Padma Bhushan and 75 Padma Shri awardees. Out of these 104 awardees, 17 are women and 4 are Posthumous awardees. Also, 17 of the Padma Awardees are from the category of foreigners, NRIs, PIOs.
Following is the list of 104 persons with their Discipline/State/Domicile who are receiving Padma Awards this year:
Padma Vibhushan
1 LK Advani- Public Affairs- Gujarat
2 Amitabh Bachchan- Art- Maharashtra
3 Prakash Singh Badal- Public Affairs- Punjab
4 Dr D Veerendra Heggade- Social Work- Karnataka
5 Mohammad Yusuf Khan alias Dilip Kumar- Art- Maharashtra
6 Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Swami Rambhadracharya- Others- Uttar Pradesh
7 Prof Malur Ramaswamy Srinivasan- Science and Engineering- Tamil Nadu
8 Kottayan K. Venugopal- Public Affairs- Delhi
9 Karim Al Hussaini Aga Khan (Foreigner)- Trade and Industry-France/UK
Padma Bhushan
1 Jahnu Barua- Art- Assam
2 Dr Vijay Bhatkar- Science and Engineering- Maharashtra
3 Shri Swapan Dasgupta- Literature and Education- Delhi
4 Swami Satyamitranand Giri- Others- Uttar Pradesh
5 N Gopalaswami- Civil Service- Tamil Nadu
6 Dr Subhash C Kashyap- Public Affairs- Delhi
7 Dr (Pandit) Gokulotsavji Maharaj- Art- Madhya Pradesh
8 Dr Ambrish Mithal- Medicine – Delhi
9 Sudha Ragunathan- Art- Tamil Nadu
10 Shri Harish Salve- Public Affairs- Delhi
11 Dr Ashok Seth- Medicine- Delhi
12 Rajat Sharma- Literature and Education- Delhi
13 Satpal- Sports- Delhi
14 Shivakumara Swami- Others- Karnataka
15 Dr Kharag Singh Valdiya- Science and Engineering- Karnataka
16 Prof Manjul Bhargava (NRI/PIO)- Science and Engineering- USA
17 David Frawley (Vamadeva) (Foreigner)- Others- USA
18 Bill Gates (Foreigner)- Social Work- USA
19 Melinda Gates (Foreigner)- Social Work- USA
20 Saichiro Misumi (Foreigner)- Others- Japan
Padma Shri
1 Dr Manjula Anagani- Medicine- Telangana
2 S Arunan- Science and Engineering- Karnataka
3 Kanyakumari Avasarala- Art- Tamil Nadu
4 Dr Bettina Sharada Baumer- Literature and Education- Jammu and Kashmir
5 Naresh Bedi- Art- Delhi
6 Ashok Bhagat- Social Work- Jharkhand
7 Sanjay Leela Bhansali- Art- Maharashtra
8 Dr Lakshmi Nandan Bora- Literature and Education- Assam
9 Dr Gyan Chaturvedi- Literature and Education- Madhya Pradesh
10 Prof (Dr) Yogesh Kumar Chawla- Medicine- Chandigarh
11 Jayakumari Chikkala- Medicine- Delhi
12 Bibek Debroy- Literature and Education- Delhi
13 Dr Sarungbam Bimola Kumari Devi- Medicine- Manipur
14 Dr Ashok Gulati- Public Affairs- Delhi
15 Dr Randeep Guleria- Medicine- Delhi
16 Dr KP Haridas- Medicine- Kerala
17 Rahul Jain- Art- Delhi
18 Ravindra Jain- Art- Maharashtra
19 Dr Sunil Jogi- Literature and Education- Delhi
20 Prasoon Joshi- Art- Maharashtra
21 Dr Prafulla Kar- Art- Odisha
22 Saba Anjum- Sports- Chhattisgarh
23 Ushakiran Khan- Literature and Education- Bihar
24 Dr Rajesh Kotecha- Medicine- Rajasthan
25 Prof Alka Kriplani- Medicine Delhi
26 Dr Harsh Kumar- Medicine- Delhi
27 Narayana Purushothama Mallaya- Literature & Education- Kerala
28 Lambert Mascarenhas- Literature and Education- Goa
29 Dr Janak Palta McGilligan- Social Work- Madhya Pradesh
30 Veerendra Raj Mehta- Social Work- Delhi
31 Tarak Mehta- Art- Gujarat
32 Neil Herbert Nongkynrih (Art), Meghalaya
33 Chewang Norphel- Others- Jammu and Kashmir
34 TV Mohandas Pai- Trade and Industry- Karnataka
35 Dr Tejas Patel- Medicine- Gujarat
36 Jadav Molai Peyang- Others- Assam
37 Bimla Poddar- Others- Uttar Pradesh
38 Dr N Prabhakar- Science and Engg- Delhi
39 Dr Prahalada- Science and Engg- Maharashtra
40 Dr Narendra Prasad- Medicine- Bihar
41 Ram Bahadur Rai- Literature and Education- Delhi
42 Mithali Raj- Sports- Telangana
43 PV Rajaraman- Civil Service- Tamil Nadu
44 Prof JS Rajput- Literature and Education- Uttar Pradesh
45 Kota Srinivasa Rao- Art- Andhra Pradesh
46 Prof Bimal Roy- Literature and Education- West Bengal
47 Shekhar Sen- Art- Maharashtra
48- Gunvant Shah- Literature and Education- Gujarat
49 Brahmdev Sharma- Literature and Education- Delhi
50 Manu Sharma- Literature and Education- Uttar Pradesh
51 Prof Yog Raj Sharma- Medicine- Delhi
52 Vasant Shastri- Science and Engg- Karnataka
53 SK Shivkumar- Science and Engg- Karnataka
54 PV Sindhu- Sports- Telangana
55 Sardara Singh- Sports- Haryana
56 Arunima Sinha-Sports- Uttar Pradesh
57 Mahesh Raj Soni- Art- Rajasthan
58 Dr Nikhil Tandon- Medicine- Delhi
59 H Thegtse Rinpoche- Social Work- Arunachal Pradesh
60 Dr Hargovind Laxmishanker Trivedi- Medicine- Gujarat
61 Huang Baosheng- Others- China
62 Prof Jacques Blamont- Science and Engg- France
63 Late Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin- Others- Maharashtra (Posthumous)
64 Jean-Claude Carriere- Literature and Education – France
65 Dr Nandrajan ‘Raj’ Chetty- Literature and Education- France
66 George L Hart- Others- USA
67 Jagat Guru Amrta Suryananda Maha Raja- Others- Portugal
68 Late Meetha Lal Mehta- Social Work- Rajasthan (Posthumous)
69 Tripti Mukherjee- Art- USA
70 Dr Dattatreyudu Nori- Medicine- USA
71 Dr Raghu Rama Pillarisetti (Medicine), USA
72 Dr Saumitra Rawat- Medicine- UK
73 Prof Annette Schmiedchen (Literature and Education), Germany
74 Late Pran Kumar Sharma alias Pran- Art- Delhi (Posthumous)
75 Late R Vasudevan- Civil Service- Tamil Nadu (Posthumous)
The Padma Awards 2015 will be handed over to the award winners by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee at a ceremonial function due to be held in March/April 2015 at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.