President Ram Nath Kovind conferred 55 distinguished people with the Padma Awards at the second investiture ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday, 28 March.
The Padma Vibhushan recipients included the late Kalyan Singh, the former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, who received the award posthumously, classical singer Prabha Atre, and others.
The Padma Bhushan recipients comprise actor Victor Banerjee, Suchitra Krishna Ella, and Krishna Murthy Ella of Bharat Biotech, the maker of Covaxin, Author Pratibha Ray, Scientist Sanjaya Rajaram (posthumous), and others.
Athlete Neeraj Chopra, Singer Sonu Nigam, Dr Moti Lal Madan were among the Padma Shri recipients.
The President conferred the Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri Awards at the Civil Investiture ceremony II. The Civil Investiture Ceremony – I took place on 21 March when 54 eminent personalities were proffered the Padma awards.
The awards were announced on Republic Day eve.
"It feels great to reap the rewards of hard work. I am focusing on my training now as World (Athletics) Championship is approaching followed by Common Wealth Games," said the Tokyo Olympic Gold medallist Neeraj Chopra on receiving Padma Shri award.
"I'm extremely happy to be honoured with the biggest civilian award, Padma Shri. India had won 19 medals including 5 gold medals in the Paralympics. Govt has appreciated our achievements, this will motivate the young athletes in India," Tokyo Paralympics gold medalist Pramod Bhagat expressed.
Altogether, 128 Padma Awards were conferred, including two duo awards (in a duo case, the award is counted as one). The list of awardees comprises four Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan, and 107 Padma Shri Awards.
The recipients include 34 women, ten people from the category of foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI, and 13 posthumous awardees.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, and Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah were amongst the dignitaries present at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday.
The Padma awards are proffered in different disciplines and fields of activities like art, public affairs, literature and education, medicine, science and engineering, social work, trade and industry, sports, civil service, and so on.
‘Padma Vibhushan’ is given to acknowledge exceptional and distinguished service, ‘Padma Bhushan’ is awarded for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri’ is proffered for distinguished service in any field.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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