M Venkaiah Naidu and other are conferred with Padma Awards

The Capital Desk

On Monday, former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, the founder of Sulabh International Bindeshwar Pathak, and several other prominent people were awarded Padma Awards by President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Naidu, Pathak and renowned Bharatanatyam dancer Padma Subrahmanyam were awarded the Padma Vibhushan. Pathak’s wife Amola accepted the award on his behalf from the President. Actor Mithun Chakraborty, singer Usha Uthup, former Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik and industrialist Sitaram Jindal received the Padma Bhushan.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar were among those present at the ceremony. Gujarat-based cardiologist Tejas Madhusudan Patel, veteran Marathi film director Dattatray Ambadas Mayaloo alias Rajdutt and Chandreshwar Prasad Thakur, a distinguished physician known globally for his contribution to research and policy on Kala Azar, were awarded the Padma Bhushan. Padma Shri awardees include master carpet weaver Khalil Ahamad from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh’s folk singer Kaluram Bamaniya, Bangladeshi singer Rezwana Choudhury Bannya and Chikankari embroidery artist from Uttar Pradesh Naseem Bano. Rajbongshi folk singer from West Bengal’s Cooch Behar Gita Roy Barman, tennis player Rohan Bopanna, spiritual figure from Tripura Chitta Ranjan Debbarma, banker Kalpana Morparia, philanthropist Kiran Nadar, social worker from Haryana Gurvinder Singh and folk singer from Uttar Pradesh Urmila Srivastava were also given the Padma Shri.

The Padma Awards ceremony also witnessed some heartwarming moments. For instance, noted folk dancer from Assam Drona Bhuyan used Ojapali and Deodhani dance form gestures to express his gratitude as he walked on the red carpet to receive the Padma Shri from the President. Bhuyan is a prominent Ojapali and Deodhani dancer from Darrang district in Assam, where he has been working to preserve a thousand-year-old tradition, performing stories from epics and Puranas. The prime minister was also seen interacting with Tripura’s spiritual leader Chitta Ranjan Debbarma, who was wearing a saffron attire. Tribal farmer from Assam Sarbeswar Basumatary sat on his knees to express his gratitude before coming to accept the award from the President.

Padma Awards are one of the highest civilian honours of the country and are awarded in three categories – Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri – for exceptional and distinguished service in various disciplines or fields of activities, such as art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc. For 2024, the President approved the conferment of 132 Padma awards, including two duo cases. The list comprises five Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 110 Padma Shri awards. As many as 30 of the awardees are women, and the list also includes eight people from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and nine posthumous awardees. While almost half of the awardees received their awards on Monday, the remaining are likely to get them next week.