Republic Day 2023: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs announced the Padma Awards -- one of the highest civilian awards of the country -- on Wednesday. The list comprises six Padma Vibhushan, nine Padma Bhushan and 91 Padma Shri Awards. Nineteen of the awardees are women and the list also includes two persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and seven posthumous awardees.


The Padma Awards, the highest civilian awards of the country after Bharat Ratna, are conferred in three categories — Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The awards announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year are given in various disciplines and fields of activities such as art, science and engineering, sports, social work, public affairs, medicine, trade and industry, literature and education, civil service etc.


While ‘Padma Vibhushan’ is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service, ‘Padma Bhushan’ is given for distinguished service of a high order. ‘Padma Shri’ is awarded for distinguished service in any field. 


The President of India confers these awards at a ceremonial function usually held around March/April every year at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.


The Padma Awards, established in 1954, are announced annually on the occasion of Republic Day, with the exception of brief interruptions in 1978 and 1979, and from 1993 to 1997.


The Padma Awards are open to all individuals, regardless of their race, profession, status, or gender. However, government employees, including those working for public sector companies, are not eligible for the awards, with the exception of doctors and scientists.


Here's the full list of Padma awardees:


PADMA VIBHUSHAN (6)


1. Mulayam Singh Yadav (Posthumous)
2. Balkrishna Doshi (Posthumous)
3. Zakir Hussain
4. SM Krishna
5. Dilip Mahalanabis (Posthumous)
6. Srinivas Varadhan


PADMA BHUSHAN (9)


1. SL Bhyrappa
2. Kumar Mangalam Birla
3. Deepak Dhar
4. Vani Jairam
5. Swami Chinna Jeeyar
6. Suman Kalyanpur
7. Kapil Kapoor
8. Sudha Murty
9. Kamlesh D Patel


PADMA SHRI (91)


Sukama Acharya
Jodhaiyabai Baiga
Premjit Baria
Usha Barle
Munishwar Chanddawar
Hemant Chauhan
Bhanubhai Chitara
Hemoprova Chutia
Narendra Chandra Debbarma (Posthumous)
Subhadra Devi
Khadar Valli Dudekula
Hem Chandra Goswami
Pritikana Goswami
Radha Charan Gupta
Modadugu Vijay Gupta
Ahmed Hussain & Mohd Hussain (Duo)
Dilshad Hussain
Bhiku Ramji Idate
C I Issac
Rattan Singh Jaggi
Bikram Bahadur Jamatia
Ramkuiwangbe Jene
Rakesh Radheshyam Jhunjhunwala (Posthumous)
Ratan Chandra Kar
Mahipat Kavi
M M Keeravaani
Areez Khambatta (Posthumous)
Parshuram Komaji Khune
Ganesh Nagappa Krishnarajanagara
Maguni Charan Kuanr
Anand Kumar
Arvind Kumar
Domar Singh Kunvar
Risingbor Kurkalang
Hirabai Lobi
Moolchand Lodha
Rani Machaiah
Ajay Kumar Mandavi
Prabhakar Bhanudas Mande
Gajanan Jagannath Mane
Antaryami Mishra
Nadoja Pindipapanahalli Munivenkatappa
Prof. (Dr.) Mahendra Pal
Uma Shankar Pandey
Ramesh Parmar & Shanti Parmar (Duo)
Nalini Parthasarathi
Hanumantha Rao Pasupuleti
Ramesh Patange
Krishna Patel
K Kalyanasundaram Pillai
V P Appukuttan Poduval
Kapil Dev Prasad
S R D Prasad
Shah Rasheed Ahmed Quadri
C V Raju
Bakshi Ram
Cheruvayal K Raman
Sujatha Ramdorai
Abbareddy Nageswara Rao
Pareshbhai Rathwa
B Ramakrishna Reddy
Mangala Kanti Roy
K C Runremsangi
Vadivel Gopal & Masi Sadaiyan (Duo)
Manoranjan Sahu
Patayat Sahu
Ritwik Sanyal
Kota Satchidananda Sastry
Sankurathri Chandra Sekhar
K Shanathoiba Sharma
Nekram Sharma
Gurcharan Singh
Laxman Singh
Mohan Singh
Thounaojam Chaoba Singh
Prakash Chandra Sood
Neihunuo Sorhie
Dr. Janum Singh Soy
Kushok Thiksey Nawang Chamba Stanzin
S Subbaraman
Moa Subong
Palam Kalyana Sundaram
Raveena Ravi Tandon
Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari
Dhaniram Toto
Tula Ram Upreti
Gopalsamy Veluchamy
Ishwar Chander Verma
Coomi Nariman Wadia
Karma Wangchu (Posthumous)
Ghulam Muhammad Zaz