President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday presented four Padma Vibhushans, including to classical singer Pandit Chhannulal Mishra, eight Padma Bhushans, and 61 Padma Shri awards for 2020.
The awards were presented at the Civil Investiture Ceremony-I held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, a communique said.
Among the dignitaries present on the occasion were Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Apart from Mishra, Padma Vibhushan awards were presented posthumously to former Union Ministers George Fernandes, Arun Jaitley, and Sushma Swaraj.
The Padma Bhushan awardees included Bangladeshi diplomat Syed Muazzem Ali (posthumous), spiritual leader Mumtaz Ali, architect Balkrishna Doshi, former Nagaland Chief Minister and Goa Governor S.C. Jamir, environmental activist Dr Anil Prakash Joshi, former civil servant Neelakanta Ramakrishna Madhava Menon, entrepreneur Indian American Dr Jagadish N. Sheth, and sportsperson P.V. Sindhu.
The Padma Shri awardees were: Dance exponent Shashadhar Acharya (art), plastic surgeon Dr Yogi Aeron (medicine), Surya Foundation Chairperson Jaiprakash Agrawal (trade and industry), educationist Kazi Masum Akhtar (literature and education), Air Marshal Padma Bandopadhyay (retd), ‘One Rupee Doctor’ Dr Sushovan Banerjee, Santhali author and adivasi researcher Dr Damayanti Beshra (literature and education), Himmataram Bhambhu (social work), Gandhian and social worker Gafurbhai M. Bilakhia (trade and industry); Sufi singer Madan Singh Chauhan (art), Kathak dancer Dr Purushottam Dadheech (art), Sri Lankan linguist, Prof Indra Dassanayake (posthumous) (literature and art), former football team caption, Oinam Bembem Devi (sports), Brazilian Lia Diskin (social work); NIMHANS, Bengaluru, Director Prof B. Nanjunddaiah Gangadhar (medicine), Dr Raman Gangakhedkar (science and engineering), Bharat Goenka (trade and industry), and Harekala Hajabba (social work).
The Padma Shri awardees also included Sadri folk dancer Madhu Mansuri Hasmukh (art), historian Dr Meenakshi Jain (literature and education), litterateur Dr Shanti Jain ( art), disability activist Bimal Kumar Jain (social work), educationist Sudhir Kumar Jain (science and engineering), one of the oldest Sanskrit dailies editor, Vidushi K.S. Jayalakshmi (for literature and education – journalism), editor, printer of one of the oldest Sanskrit dailies, K.V. Sampathkumar (posthumous) (literature and education – journalism), actor Sarita Joshi (art), Dr Ravi Kannan R (medicine), singer Adnan Sami (art), Indian-American economist Sriprakash Kothari (literature and education), botanist Kattungal Subramaniam Manilal (science and engineering), Beenapani Mohanty (arts), Dr Arunoday Mondal (medicine), library movement activist Sathyanarayanan Mundayoor (social work), terracotta sculptor, V.K. Munusamy (art), Hindi language scholar N. Chandrasekharan Nair (arts) and oldest working journalist from Mizoram Lalbiakthanga Pachau (literature and education – journalism).
The President also awarded Padma Shri to puppetry artists M. Pankajaskshi (arts), Prof Jogendra Nath Phukan (for literature and education), scientists Prof T. Pradeep (science and engineering), Radhamohan (posthumous) (agriculture), farming activists Kumari Sabarmatee (agriculture), Olympian Taarundeep Rai (sports), S. Ramakrishnan (social work), actor Kangana Ranaut (art), hockey captain Rani (sports), artist Yadla Gopal Rao (for art), educationist Shahabuddin Rathod (literature and education), farming innovator Chinthala Venkat Reddy (agriculture), fish farmer Bata Krishna Sahoo (animal husbandry), teacher Trinity Saioo (agriculture), philanthropist Vijay Sankeshwar (trade and industry), and ‘Elephant Man of India’ Dr Kushal Konwar Sarma (medicine).
Other recipients are womens’ rights activist Mehboob Gous Sayed alias Sayedbhai (social work), artist Shyam Sunder Sharma (art), ENT surgeon Dr Sandra Desa Souza (medicine), Nadhaswaram exponent Kaleeshabu Mahaboob (for arts), Nadhaswaram expert Sheikhk Mahaboob Subhani (art), literary activist Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi (literature and education), founder of Gandhi Ashram at Bali, Agus Indra Udayana (social work), and activist Sundaram Verma (social work).
