India / Ram Vilas Paswan, Keshubhai Patel, Tarun Gogoi awarded Padma Bhushan

New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday announced the list of awardees for Padma Awards -- one of the highest civilian awards in the country.

This year 119 eminent personalities from various fields have been recognised across three categories -- the Padma Vibhushan (7), Padma Bhushan (10) and Padma Shri (102).

Announced on the occasion of Republic Day, the awards will be conferred by President Ram Nath Kovind later this year at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Some of the prominent awardees include:

PADMA VIBHUSHAN

1. Former Japan PM Shinzo Abe

Japan's longest-serving prime minister Shinzo Abe is one of the awardees for the Padma Vibhushan honour.

The 65-year-old stepped down from his post last year due to a chronic illness.

First elected Japan's PM in 2006, Abe has since visited India four times and also became the first Japanese head of state to serve as the chief guest for India's Republic Day parade in 2014.

Abe has played a key role in strengthening India-Japan ties and is responsible for various cooperative initiatives between the two countries.

2. Singer SP Balasubramaniam (posthumously)

Legendary singer SP Balasubramaniam has recognised for his tremendous contributions to the field of art.

The multilingual singer died last September at the age of 74 after suffering from Covid-19.

He had worked as a singer, actor, music director, dubbing artist and film producer in multiple languages. In his career spanning five decades, he had recorded over 40,000 songs in several languages.

In his long career, he had won several awards and accolades for his mellifluous voice. In fact, he had won the Guinness World Record for recording the highest number of songs.

SPB was also bestowed with Padma Shri Award in 2001 and Padma Bhushan in 2011.

3. Sculptor Sudarshan Sahoo

Among the awardees is Odisha's Sudarshan Sahoo who will receive the honour for his distinguished work in the field of art.

He started the Sudarshan Crafts Museum in Puri and revived the Gurukul system of learning through his Sudarshan Art & Crafts Village.

He has previously also received the National Award, the Padma Shri and the Shilp Guru award.

PADMA BHUSHAN

1. Former Assam Tarun Gogoi (posthumously)

Three-time Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi died last year after complications arising due to Covid-19.

Six-time Lok Sabha MP, Tarun Gogoi first represented the Jorhat parliamentary constituency in 1971-85 and later he was elected from Kaliabor. He shot to fame in 1976 when he was made the joint secretary of AICC and an office-bearer of the Indian Youth Congress under Ambika Soni’s leadership.

He also saw the idea of 'Seven Sisters' take shape.

Tarun Gogoi became the Assam chief minister in 2001 after taking the party to victory defeating Prafulla Kumar Mahanta’s AGP. He went on to serve three full terms as Assam's chief minister. He ended his tenure in 2016 as the longest-serving chief minister of Assam.

2. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan

Former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan is also a recipient of the Padma Bhushan this year. She represented the Madhya Pradesh's Indore from 1989 to 2019 as a longest-serving woman Member of Parliament and then retired from electoral politics.

She also served for as a Union Minister of State from 1999 to 2004, holding the portfolios for Human Resource Development, Communications and Information Technology and Petroleum and Natural Gas.

3. Retd IAS officer Nripendra Mishra

Retired 1967 batch IAS officer Nripendra Mishra served as the Principal Secretary to PM Modi from 2014 to 2019.

He has also served as the chairperson of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Telecom Secretary of India and Fertilizers Secretary of India.

Post his resignation as principal secretary in 2019, Mishra was appointed the chairperson of the executive council of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in January 2020.

He is also the chairman of the Ram Mandir construction committee.

4. MP Ram Vilas Paswan (posthumously)

One of India's foremost Dalit leaders, Ram Vilas Paswan hailed from Bihar and was a 10-time member of parliament.

He died in October last year, mere days before the Bihar assembly elections.

Since 1989, when the country began with the coalition era of politics, Paswan managed to sit on treasury benches in almost all combinations —spread from extreme left to right. He served as a Union Minister under five different prime ministers.

As a minister, he would also be remembered for bringing in some big changes. Opening up the telecom sector, digitalisation of food procurement system, laying down infrastructure for one nation one ration cards and making service charges optional for consumers at restaurants being some of them.

5. Muslim cleric Kalbe Sadiq (posthumously)

Late vice-president of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and renowned Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Sadiq has also been awarded the civilian honour posthumously.

He died at a private hospital in Lucknow in November 2020.

Sadiq was an Islamic scholar, reformer, educationist, philanthropist and preacher and hailed from Lucknow. He was well-known for presiding over some of the most evocative Muharram proceedings in Lucknow, and many would travel far and wide to listen to him.

He addressed audiences in America, Australia, the United Kingdom and other countries on subjects like Shia-Sunni unity and universal brotherhood.

6. Former Gujarat CM Keshubhai Patel (posthumously)

Two-time Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel has been awarded the Padma Bhushan award posthumously.

Keshubhai Patel was a formidable mass leader for the Jan Sangh and the BJP for decades in Gujarat. He became Gujarat chief minister twice but never completed his term.

Keshubhai Patel passed away in Ahmedabad in October 2020 after complaining of breathlessness.

He was succeeded by Narendra Modi, his one-time disciple, as the CM of Gujarat.