Padma Awards 2015

This year the President of India has approved conferment of Padma Awards 2015 to 104 persons. Let’s have brief introduction of various Padma awards in India.

Table of Contents

Padma Vibhushan

The Padma Vibhushan is the second highest civilian award in the Republic of India. It consists of a medal and a citation and is awarded by the President of India. It was established on 2 January 1954. It ranks behind the Bharat Ratna and comes before the Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. It is awarded to recognize exceptional and distinguished service to the nation in any field, including government service.

The Padma Vibhushan was originally established as the Pahela Varg (First Class) of a three-class “Padma Vibhushan” awards. The oldest living recipient as of 2015 is Bhairab Dutt Pande (age 97); the youngest living recipient is Sachin Tendulkar (age 41).

This year the President of India has approved conferment of Padma Awards 2015 to 104 persons. The list comprises of 9 Padma Vibhushan, 20 Padma Bhushan and 75 Padma Shri Awardees. 17 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 17 persons from the category of foreigners, NRIs, PIOs and 4 posthumous awardees

In 2015, 9 Padma Vibhusan award were given and the list of recipients is as follows:

LK Advani (Public Affairs), Gujarat
Amitabh Bachchan (Art), Maharashtra
Prakash Singh Badal (Public Affairs), Punjab
Dr D Veerendra Heggade (Social Work), Karnataka
Dilip Kumar (Art), Maharashtra
Jagadguru Rambhadracharya (Others), Uttar Pradesh
Prof Malur Ramaswamy Srinivasan (Science and Engg), Tamil Nadu
Kottayan K Venugopal (Public Affairs), Delhi
Karim Al Hussaini Aga Khan (Trade and Industry) France/UK

Padma Bhushan

The Padma Bhushan is the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, but comes before the Padma Shri. It is announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year. The award was established on 2 January 1954 by the president of India. It is awarded to recognize distinguished service of a high order to the nation, in any field.

In 2015, 20 Padma Bhusan award were given and the list of recipients is as follows:

Jahnu Barua (Art), Assam
Dr Vijay Bhatkar (Science and Engineering), Maharashtra
Swapan Dasgupta (Literature and Education), Delhi
Swami Satyamitranand Giri (Others), Uttar Pradesh
N Gopalaswami (Civil Service), Tamil Nadu
Dr Subhash C Kashyap (Public Affairs), Delhi
Dr (Pandit) Gokulotsavji Maharaj (Art), Madhya Pradesh
Dr Ambrish Mithal (Medicine), Delhi
Sudha Ragunathan (Art), Tamil Nadu
Harish Salve (Public Affairs), Delhi
Dr Ashok Seth (Medicine), Delhi
Rajat Sharma (Literature and Education), Delhi
Satpal (Sports), Delhi
Shivakumara Swami (Others), Karnataka
Dr Kharag Singh Valdiya (Science and Engg), Karnataka
Prof Manjul Bhargava (Science and Engg), USA
David Frawley (Others), USA
Bill Gates (Social Work), USA
Melinda Gates (Social Work), USA
Saichiro Misumi (Foreigner)- Others- Japan

Padam Shri

Padma Shri (also Padmashree) is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Awarded by the Government of India, it is announced every year on India’s Republic Day. Padma Awards were instituted in 1954 to be awarded to citizens of India in recognition of their distinguished contribution in various spheres of activity including the Arts, Education, Industry, Literature, Science, Sports, Medicine, Social Service and Public Affairs. It has also been awarded to some distinguished individuals who were not citizens of India but did contribute in various ways to India.

In 2015, 75 Padma Shri award were given and the list of recipients is as follows: