India’s first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat who died in a helicopter crash recently and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Hindutva poster boy late Kalyan Singh were awarded Padma Vibhushan on Tuesday, while veteran Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and former West Bengal CM and CPM leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee were given Padma Bhushan.
Cyrus Poonawalla of the Serum Institute of India, which manufactured COVID-19 vaccine Covishield, and Krishna Ella and Suchitra Ella of Bharat Biotech, which produced India’s indigenous coronavirus vaccine Covaxin, were also given Padma Bhushan.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were conferred Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award.
Late Punjabi folk singer Gurmeet Bawa, actor Victor Banerjee and former Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi have been awarded Padma Bhushan.
Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra and singer Sonu Nigam were awarded Padma Shri.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the President approved conferment of 128 Padma Awards, including two duo cases, this year. In a duo case, the award is counted as one.
The list comprises 4 Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 107 Padma Shri awards. Thirty-four of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 13 posthumous awardees.
Four Keralites awarded Padma Shri
Keralites Dr Sosamma Ipe (farmer, animal conservationist), Sankaranarayana Menon (Kallari expert), P. Narayana Kurup (poet), K. V. Rabiya (social worker) were awarded Padma Shri.
