President gives away 55 Padma awards

New Delhi: President Ramnath Kovind on Monday presented 55 of the 112 Padma awards – a Padma Vibhushan, eight Padma Bhushan and 46 Padma Shri – to distinguished personalities from different fields including a doctor pair.

The Padma Vibhushan, the country’s second highest civilian honour, went to theatre personality and writer Balwant Moreshwar Purandare from Maharashtra.

Among the other prominent recipients in other categories were late journalist-writer Kuldip Nayar, Prabhu Deva, Shankar Mahadevan and the late Kader Khan from the film industry.

Doctors Ravindra and Smita Kolhe were awarded as a duo, which is counted as one Padma Shri award, a Rashtrapati Bhavan statement said.

The awards were given away at a Civil Investiture Ceremony.

There are a total of four Padma Vibhushan award winners.

The Padma Bhushan awards — India’s third highest civilian honour — were given to Punjab political leader and Rajya Sabha member Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa; former Cisco CEO and Chairman of the US-India Strategic Partnership forum John Chambers; Malayalam film actor Viswanathan Mohanlal; and former Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha Kariya Munda.

Parliamentarian Hukumdev Narayan Yadav and sitar player Budhaditya Mukherjee are among the Padma Bhushan recipients. Kuldip Nayar’s award was collected by his wife Bharti.

The Padma Shri awards were conferred upon table tennis player Achanta Sharath Kamal, wrestler Bajrang Punia, chess player Harika Dronavalli, doctors Ilias Ali and Mammen Chandy, architect Bimal Pate, archaeologist Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti, educationist Ganpat I. Patel, spiritualist Bangaru Adigalar, social workers Muktaben Pankajkumar Dagli, Rajani Kant and Bulu Imam, Bihar MLA Bhagirathi Devi, Carnatic music exponent Kadamputharamadom Gopalan Thanthri Jayan as well as former Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar.

The remaining recipients will be awarded in a ceremony later.

Twenty-one of the total awardees are women, 11 foreigners or non-resident Indians or Person of Indian Origin or Overseas Citizen of India and one transgender person.

The awards are given in art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports and civil service among others.

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.

(IANS)