New Delhi: The Government of India announced the prestigious Padma Awards, honoring 139 distinguished individuals for their exceptional contributions across various fields. The awards are given in three categories: Padma Vibhushan (for exceptional and distinguished service), Padma Bhushan (distinguished service of higher order) and Padma Shri (distinguished service).
The award seeks to recognize achievements in all fields of activity or disciplines involving an element of public service. The Padma Awards are conferred on the recommendations made by the Padma Awards Committee, which is constituted by the prime minister every year.
Of the 139 Padma awards, seven individuals will receive the Padma Vibhushan, 19 will be honored with the Padma Bhushan, and 113 will be conferred with the Padma Shri. President Droupadi Murmu will confer these awards at a ceremonial function held at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, in March or April 2025.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Padma award winners. He said, "India is proud to honor and celebrate their extraordinary achievements. Their dedication and perseverance are truly motivating."
"Each awardee is synonymous with hardwork, passion and innovation, which has positively impacted countless lives. They teach us the value of striving for excellence and serving society selflessly," he added in the X post.
The Padma Vibhushan awardees include Duvvur Nageshwar Reddy (Medicine), Justice (Retd) Jagdish Singh Khehar (Public Affairs), Kumudini Rajnikant Lakhia (Art), Lakshminarayana Subramaniam (Art), MT Vasudevan Nair (Literature and Education), Osamu Suzuki (Trade and Industry), Sharda Sinha (Art).
The Padma Bhushan awardees include A Surya Prakash (Literature and Education-Journalism), Anant Nag (Art), Bibek Debroy (Literature and Education), Jatin Goswami (Art), Jose Chacko Periappuram (Medicine), Kailash Nath Dikshit (Archaeology), Manohar Joshi (Public Affairs), Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti (Trade and Industry), Nandamuri Balakrishna (Art), and others.
Of the 119 Padma Shri recipients, prominent names include playback singer Arijit Singh, former Chairperson of the State Bank of India, Arundhati Bhattacharya, Actor Ashok Laxman Saraf, senior advocate C S Vaidyanathan, cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin, three-time Grammy winner Ricky Kej, academic Arunoday Saha, and many others.
(All photos courtesy: Ministry of Information & Broadcasting)
