Padma Awards: R Ashwin, Nandamuri Balakrishna, and Pankaj Udhas Among Honorees

New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu on Monday conferred Padma awards on 71 distinguished personalities, including the late Osamu Suzuki, late singer Pankaj Udhas, and late former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, in a grand ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan’s Durbar Hall.

139 Named for Padma Awards, Ceremony Held in Two Phases

Altogether, 139 individuals were selected for the country’s prestigious civilian honours — Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri — announced on the eve of the 76th Republic Day, January 25.

While 71 recipients received their awards on Monday in the presence of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the remaining awardees will be honoured in a separate ceremony soon.

Prominent Figures Honoured at the Ceremony

Veteran actor Shekhar Kapur, eminent gastroenterologist and Chairman of AIG Hospitals Dr. D Nageshwar Reddy, celebrated violinist Lakshminarayana Subramaniam, and Telugu superstar Nandamuri Balakrishna (popularly known as Balayya) were among the prominent personalities who received the awards.

Four Conferred with Padma Vibhushan

Among the awardees, four eminent personalities were honoured with the Padma Vibhushan:

• Osamu Suzuki (Posthumous)
• Dr. Lakshminarayana Subramaniam
• Dr. D Nageshwar Reddy
• Malayalam author and film director M T Vasudevan Nair (Posthumous)

Ten Personalities Receive Padma Bhushan

Ten distinguished individuals were conferred with the Padma Bhushan, including:

• Pankaj Udhas (Posthumous)
• Sushil Kumar Modi (Posthumous)
• Nandamuri Balakrishna
• Shekhar Kapur
• Former hockey player P R Sreejesh
• Tamil actor S Ajith Kumar
• Chairperson of Zydus Lifesciences Pankaj Patel
• Indian-American engineer Vinod Dham, known as the ‘Father of the Pentium’