Picture : Twitter / ANI
Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Hindutva poster boy late Kalyan Singh under whose watch the Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992, , India’s first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and former West Bengal Chief Minister and Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee( he refused to accept award) were chosen for the Padma Awards.
Singh and General Rawat who died in a helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu last month were conferred Padma Vibhushan, the country’s second-highest civilian award, along with 88-year-old Indian classical vocalist Prabha Atre and the late Radheshyam Khemka, former chairman of Geeta Press, which publishes Hindu religious books.
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, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, chairperson of Tata Group Natarajan Chandrasekaran 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 were also named for Padma Bhushan.
Senior Congress leader Azad, former West Bengal chief minister Bhattacharjee, US-based culinary expert Madhur Jaffrey, Paralympic javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia, religious teacher from Gujarat Swami Sachidanand were among the 17 Padma Bhushan awardees.
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.
