President Murmu confers Padma awards on 71 personalities at Rashtrapati Bhavan

New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu on Monday presented the Padma awards to 71 prominent personalities, including former Suzuki Motor chief (late) Osamu Suzuki, late singer Pankaj Udhas, former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi (late), publisher of Tamil daily Dinamalar Lakshmipathy Ramasubaiyar, and Punjabi singer Jaspinder Narula.

A total of 139 eminent personalities were nominated for the country’s top civilian honours — Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri — on the eve of the 76th Republic Day on January 25 this year. Of these, 71 were honoured today in the presence of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and other dignitaries at the Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan. The remaining awardees will be conferred the awards at a separate ceremony soon.

Among the other prominent recipients were noted actor and director Shekhar Kapur, cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin, hockey player PR Sreejesh, Asian Institute of Gastroenterology and AIG Hospital chairman D. Nageshwar Reddy, violinist Lakshminarayana Subramaniam, and Telugu actor Nandamuri Balakrishna.

Four personalities — Osamu Suzuki (posthumously), Lakshminarayana Subramaniam, D. Nageshwar Reddy, and Malayalam writer and filmmaker M.T. Vasudevan Nair (posthumously) — were honoured with the Padma Vibhushan.

Ten eminent personalities received the Padma Bhushan. These included Pankaj Udhas (posthumously), Sushil Kumar Modi (posthumously), Balkrishna Kapoor, PR Sreejesh, Tamil actor S.S. Sreejesh, Ajit Kumar, Zydus Lifesciences chairperson Pankaj Patel, and Indian-American engineer Vinod Dham, known as the ‘Father of the Pentium’.

Fifty-seven personalities were awarded the Padma Shri, including State Bank of India’s former chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya, industrialist Pawan Kumar Goenka, wildlife researcher and Marathi writer Maruti Bhujangrao Chitampalli, and master puppeteer Bhimavva Doddabalappa Shillekyathara. Former AIIMS and SGPGI director A.K. Mohapatra and Punjabi singer Jaspinder Narula Kaul were also honoured with the Padma Shri.

This year’s awards also recognised 30 unsung heroes, including 100-year-old Libia Lobo Sardesai, who played a significant role in Goa’s freedom movement.