Kalyan Singh, Gen Rawat given Padma Vibhushan; Azad, Buddhadeb awarded Padma Bhushan

PTI, Jan 25, 2022, 9:11 PM IST

New Delhi: Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Hindutva poster boy late Kalyan Singh and India’s first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat who died in a helicopter crash recently were awarded Padma Vibhushan on Tuesday, while veteran Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and former West Bengal CM and CPI(M) leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee were given Padma Bhushan.

Cyrus Poonawalla of the Serum Institute of India, which manufactured COVID-19 vaccine Covishield, and Krishna Ella and Suchitra Ella of Bharat Biotech, which produced India’s indigenous coronavirus vaccine Covaxin, were also given Padma Bhushan.

Kalyan Singh and General Rawat were given Padma Vibhushan, the country’s second-highest civilian award, posthumously.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were conferred Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award.

Late Punjabi folk singer Gurmeet Bawa, actor Victor Banerjee, and former Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi have been awarded Padma Bhushan.

Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra and singer Sonu Nigam were awarded Padma Shri.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the President approved the conferment of 128 Padma Awards, including two duo cases, this year. In a duo case, the award is counted as one.

The list comprises 4 Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan, and 107 Padma Shri awards. Thirty-four of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 13 posthumous awardees.