President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday conferred the Padma Awards, one of the highest civilian awards of the category, to 112 people from various disciplines. The awards were conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.
The list includes 112 Padma Awards awarded this year – 4 Padma Vibhushan, 14 Padma Bhushan & 94 Padma Shri. 21 awardees are women and the list also includes 11 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI, 3 Posthumous awardees and 1 transgender person.
Padma Awards are among the highest civilian honours of India and are declared every year on the eve of Republic Day. For the 2019 Padma Awards, a total of 49,992 nominations were received, a jump of over 14,000 then the nominations were made in the year 2017. The process for this year’s awards kicked off on 1st May 2018 with the final date to submit nominations set as September 15, 2018.
In 2016, the Government of India made the process of filling nominations for the esteemed awards online.
The awards are distributed in three categories, namely:
Padma Vibhushan (for exceptional and distinguished service)
After Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan is the highest civilian award.
Padma Bhushan (distinguished service of higher order)
- Third highest civilian award.
Padma Shri (distinguished service)
- Fourth highest civilian award.
In 2018 the prestigious honors had a total of 85 recipients. This list had 3 Padma Vibhushan, 9 Padma Bhushan and 73 Padma Shri awardees included. As many as fourteen of the awardees were women. three awards were given posthumously.
Padma Awards were instituted in 1954 and besides the interruptions in between, the awards have been given annually. Last year music maestro Ilaiyaraja, RSS ideologue P Parameswaran and Indian classical musician, Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan was conferred with Padma Vibhushan.
