Republic Day 2022: President of India Ram Nath Kovind has approved the conferment of 128 Padma Awards this year. The illustrious list of civilian awards includes former CDS Gen Bipin Rawat who has been awarded Padma Vibhushan posthumously. Former UP chief minister Kalyan Singh has also been awarded Padma Vibhushan posthumously.
While Padma Bhushan has been awarded to Congress leader from Jammu and Kashmir Ghulam Nabi Azad, former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, and former secretary Rajiv Mehrishi.
Additionally, Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra will be given the Padma Shri. Chopra is the only athlete to win a gold medal for India at the Olympics.
Bollywood singer Sonu Nigam will also be conferred with Padma Shri.
Krishna Ella and Suchitra Ella of Bharat Biotech and Cyrus Poonawalla of Serum Institute of India will also receive Padma Bhushan awards.
While Krishna Ella and Suchitra Ella have been the main faces behind development of the indigenous Covid vaccine Covaxin, Poonawalla role has been significant in giving India Covishield - another Covid vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
The Home Ministry has also conferred third-highest civilian award Padma Bhushan on Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
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Late Punjabi folk singer Gurmeet Bawa will be awarded Padma Bhushan.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), as many as 128 personalities from different fields will be honoured with the Padma Awards.
The list comprises 107 Padma Shri Awards, 17 Padma Bhushan and four Padma Vibhushan. Out of 128 awardees, 34 are women.