New Delhi: Eminent personalities, including former union ministers Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and George Fernandes, Olympian boxer Mary Kom, former Mauritius prime minister Anerood Jugnauth have been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan on the Republic Day this year, officials said on Saturday. Classical singer from Varanasi Chhannulal Mishra is also given Padma Vibhushan.
Former Defence minister Manohar Parrikar, Industrialists Anand Mahindra and Venu Shrinivasan, Olympian badminton player P V Sindhu, former Nagaland chief minister S C Jamir and Jammu and Kashmir politician Muzaffar Hussain Baig have been awarded with the Padma Bhushan, they said. Anand Mahindra has been awarded the Padma Bhushan in the field of trade and industry.
Jaitley, Swaraj, Fernandes and Parrikar have been given the award posthumously, the officials said.
The Padma Vibhushan for this year has been awarded to a total of seven prominent personalities, while 16 have been given the Padma Bhushan, 118 have been given the Padma Shri on the 71st Republic Day this year, they said.
Filmmakers Karan Johar and Ekta Kapoor and actor Kangana Ranaut have been awarded the Padma Shri, officials said on Saturday.
Singers Suresh Wadkar and Adnan Sami, as well as veteran TV actor Sarita Joshi have also been conferred with the fourth highest civilian award of the country.
Lucknow-based historian and journalist Yogesh Praveen and Assam-based historian Jogendra Nath Phukan are also awarded Padma Shri. Naukari.com founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani, industrialist Bharat Goenka, technocrat Nemnath Jain have also been given Padma Shri.
The Padma Shri for this year has been awarded to a total of 118 eminent personalities across fields of art, literature and education, medicine, trade and industry, sports, public affairs, social work and science and engineering.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated the Padma awardees, saying they include extraordinary people.
"Congratulations to all those who have been conferred the Padma Awards," he tweeted.
The prime minister said the awardees include "extraordinary individuals who have made exceptional contributions to our society, nation and humanity".
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