President Kovind presents 2021 Padma awards

New Delhi, Nov 9 (IANS) President Ram Nath Kovind presented four Padma Vibhushans, including to archaeologist B.B. Lal, five Padma Bhushans and 44 Padma Shri on Tuesday.

The awards were presented by the President at the Civil Investiture Ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

In view of the Covid-19 pandemic situation, the presentation of the awards are being held in two parts, the second will take place at 5 p.m.

Among the dignitaries present on the occasion were Vice President N. Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Apart from Lal, Padma Vibhushan awards were presented to cardiologist Belle Monappa Hegde (medicine), Narinder Singh Kapany (posthumous, for science and engineering) and sculptor Sudarshan Sahoo (arts).

The second important award, the Padma Bhushan, was presented to former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan (public affairs), top bureaucrat Nripendra Mishra (civil service), and posthumously to former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi (for public affairs), Ram Vilas Paswan (public affairs) and former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel (public affairs).

Honouring the talents across fields, the Padma Shri awards were presented to Sarod & Afghan Rabani player Ustad Gulfam Ahmed (arts), basketball player P Anitha (sports), Assam banker Laxmi Baruah (social work), Rajani Bector (trade and industry), folk artist Gopiram Bargayn Burabhakat (arts), retired principal Sujit Chatterjee a.k.a. Chattopadhyay (literature and education), Ladakh's Tsultrim Chonjor (social work), painter from Bihar Dulari Devi (arts), dancer Prof Dr Iyu Bhuyan (arts), Gujarati poet and folk singer Dadudan Gadhavi (posthumous, arts), Haryana's Professor Jai Bhagwan Goyal (literature and education), mountaineer from Arunachal Pradesh, Dr Anshu Jamsenpa (sports), folk singer Purnamasi Jani (arts), author Namdev Chandrabhan Kamble (literature and education) and Dr Rajat Kumar Kar (literature and education).

The other Padma Shri awardees included Punjab's Prakash Kaur (social work), renowned puppeteer K Kesavasamy (arts), phulkari artist Lajwanti (arts), folk singer Lakha Khan Manganiar (arts), folk singer Dulal Manki (arts), Dr Chandrakant Mehta (literature and education), Kaithapram Damodaran Namboodiri (arts), Dr Chandrakant Sambhaji Pandav (medicine), Dr Jitendra Nath Pandey (posthumous, for medicine), Prof Sundaram Soloman Pappaiah (literature and education - journalism), Jaswantiben Jamnadas Popat (trader and industry), Assam's Dr Birubala Rabha (social work), Rama Swamy Annavarapu (arts), famous Carnatic singer Bombay Jayashree Ramnath (arts) and Dr Dhananjay Diwakar Sagdeo (medicine).

Further, the Padma Shri awards were also given to Orthopedic Dr Bhupendra Kumar Singh Sanjay (medicine), Prof Chamanlal Sapru (posthumous, for literature and education), Hanjaman Ongbi Radhe (arts), Dr Arjun Singh Shekhawat (literature and education), Prof Ram Yatna Shukla (literature and education), Jitender Singh Shunty (social work), athlete Sudha Singh (sports), former governor Mrudula Sinha (literature and education), West Bengal's Guru Maa Kamali Soren (social work), P Subramaniam (posthumous, for trade and industry), Dr Thiruvengadam Veeraraghavan (posthumous, for medicine), Dr Kapil Tiwari (literature and education), differently-abled sportsperson K Y Venkatesh (sports) and Bangladesh national Lt Col Quazi Sajjad Ali Zahir (social work).

This year, the list of Padma awards consists of seven Padma Vibhushans, 10 Padma Bhushan, and 102 Padma Shri.