The Padma Awards for the year 2017 which include 7 Padma Vibhushan, 7 Padma Bhushan and 75 Padma Shri have been announced by the government on Wednesday, January 25, and this year saw the inclusion of many unsung heroes who have been working tirelessly towards the betterment of the society and development of the traditional crafts of India.
Conferred by the President of India at a ceremonial function at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in March or April, the Padma Awards are given to the Indian citizens in recognition of their distinguished contribution in various spheres.
This year 89 citizens are being conferred the Padma Awards including 19 women awardees, 5 from the category of foreigners, NRIs, PIOs and 6 posthumous awardees.
Padma Vibhushan is the country’s second highest civilian award, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and followed by the Padma Bhushan awards. The Padma awards was instituted on January 2, 1954, where in Padma Vibhushan is awarded for “exceptional and distinguished service”, Padma Bhushan for “distinguished service of a high order” and Padma Shri is awarded for “distinguished service” , without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex.
The List of Awardees
Not only is the Padma Awards List shorter this year, the selection committee has also taken care to strike a balance between the celebrity achievers and honouring and recognising those who work silently at the grassroots level. A regional balance has also been maintained ensuring that awards have been distributed equitably across the states.
Surprisingly, there was not a single Bollywood star at the receiving end of the award.
The Celebrity List
This year saw the government awarding the Padma Vibhushan to political leaders Murli Manohar Joshi (Veteran BJP), Sharad Pawar (NCP chief), Sunderlal Patwa (ex-chief minister of Madhya Pradesh) and former Lok Sabha Speaker and Meghalaya chief minister PA Sangma (posthumous), thus cutting across affiliations.
2017 Padma awards list saw famous names in sports such as Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli, hockey captain PR Sreejesh, Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik , gymnast Dipa Karmakar for her spirited performance at Rio Olympics, and Deepa Malik for her silver medal at the Paralympics in shot put.
The list also included famous musicians such as KJ Yesudas, Kailash Kher and Anuradha Paudwal, mohan veena player and Grammy Awards winner Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, as well as spiritual leaders Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev and Ratna Sundar Maharaj, yoga exponent Swami Niranjana Nanda Saraswati and political satirist Cho Ramaswamy (posthumous).
The Unsung Heroes
Among the Padma awardees are 15 ordinary people who have been trying to make a difference in the positive direction, without vying for the limelight, through their rare talent and innovation. Among them are the following:
Kalaripayattu exponent Meenakshi Amma received the Padma Vibhushan for practising the ancient art form said to be at the root of Chinese martial arts.
Chintakindi Mallesham, a school drop-out who invented the Laxmi ASU machine which reduces the time and labour required to weave Pochampalli silk sarees, has got the Padma Shri in the category ‘science and engineering’.
Daripalli Ramaiah, who has planted over 1 crore trees and is nicknamed ‘Tree Man.’
Sixty-year-old Bipin Ganatra who has devoted his life to rescuing people from fires after losing his brother to one.
Dr Subroto Das was on the list of awardees for setting up the Lifeline Foundation in Gujarat to help road accident victims after realising the poor state of emergency services during his own accident.
91-year-old gynaecologist, Dr Bhakti Yadav, who has been treating patients for free for 68 years and has delivered thousands of babies.
Girish Bharadwaj, an engineer, who has built over 100 suspension bridges.
Karimul Haque, an ordinary tea garden worker who became extraordinary when he converted his bike into a free 24×7 ambulance.
Swachch Bharat pioneer Dr Mapuskar.
Genabhai Dargabhai Patel, a physically challenged farmer who transformed the drought-prone Banaskantha into India’s largest pomegranate producer.
Shekhar Naik, the captain of the Indian visually-challenged cricket team who led it to victory in the T-20 World Cup 2012 and ODI World Cup 2014.
The aforesaid awardees have been honoured in the absence of any recommendations and purely on the basis of research.
The Complete List
The following are the 89 recipients of the Padma Awards, 2017.
Padma Vibhushan
No.
No.Awardee
Field of Prominence
1
Sharad Pawar
Public Affairs
2
Murli Manohar Joshi
Public Affairs
3
P.A. Sangma (posthumous)
Public Affairs
4
Sunder Lal Patwah (posthumous)
Public Affairs
5
K.J.Yesudas
Art – Music
6
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
Others – Spiritualism
7
Udipi Ramachandra Rao
Science & Engineering
Padma Bhushan
No.
No.Awardee
Field of Prominence
1
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
Art – Music
2
Devi Prasad Dwivedi
Literature & Education
3
Tehemton Udwadia
Medicine
4
Ratna Sundar Maharaj
Others-Spiritualism
5
Swami Niranjana Nanda Saraswati
Others-Yoga
6
H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn (Foreigner)
Literature & Education
7
Cho Ramaswamy (Posthumous)
Literature & Education –Journalism
Padma Shri
No.
No.Awardee
Field of Prominence
1
Basanti Bisht
Art-Music
2
Chemanchery Kunhiraman Nair
Art-Dance
3
Aruna Mohanty
Art-Dance
4
Bharathi Vishnuvardhan
Art-Cinema
5
Sadhu Meher
Art-Cinema
6
T K Murthy
Art-Music
7
Laishram Birendrakumar Singh
Art-Music
8
Krishna Ram Chaudhary
Art-Music
9
Baoa Devi
Art-Painting
10
Tilak Gitai
Art-Painting
11
Aekka Yadagiri Rao
Art-Sculpture
12
Jitendra Haripal
Art-Music
13
Kailash Kher
Art-Music
14
Parassala B Ponnammal
Art-Music
15
Sukri Bommagowda
Art-Music
16
Mukund Nayak
Art-Music
17
Purushottam Upadhyay
Art-Music
18
Anuradha Paudwal
Art-Music
19
Wareppa Naba Ni
Art-Theatre
20
Tripuraneni Hanuman Chowdary
Civil Service
21
T.K. Viswanathan
Civil Service
22
Kanwal Sibal
Civil Service
23
Birkha Bahadur Limboo Muringla
Literature & Education
24
Eli Ahmed
Literature & Education
25
Narendra Kohli
Literature & Education
26
G. Venkatasubbiah
Literature & Education
27
Akkitham Achyuthan Namboothiri
Literature & Education
28
Kashi Nath Pandita
Literature & Education
29
Chamu Krishna Shastry
Literature & Education
30
Harihar Kripalu Tripathi
Literature & Education
31
Michel Danino
Literature & Education
32
Punam Suri
Literature & Education
33
VG Patel
Literature & Education
34
V Koteswaramma
Literature & Education
35
Balbir Dutt
Literature & Education-Journalism
36
Bhawana Somaaya
Literature & Education-Journalism
37
Vishnu Pandya
Literature & Education-Journalism
38
Subroto Das
Medicine
39
Bhakti Yadav
Medicine
40
Mohammed Abdul Waheed
Medicine
41
Madan Madhav Godbole
Medicine
42
Devendra Dayabhai Patel
Medicine
43
Harkishan Singh
Medicine
44
Mukut Minz
Medicine
45
Arun Kumar Sharma
Others-Archaeology
46
Sanjeev Kapoor
Others Culinary
47
Meenakshi Amma
Others-Martial Art
48
Genabhai Dargabhai Patel
Others-Agriculture
49
Chandrakant Pithawa
Science & Engineering
50
Ajoy Kumar Ray
Science & Engineering
51
Chintakindi Mallesham
Science & Engineering
52
Jitendra Nath Goswami
Science & Engineering
53
Daripalli Ramaiah
Social Work
54
Girish Bhardwaj
Social Work
55
Karimul Hak
Social Work
56
Bipin Ganatra
Social Work
57
Nivedita Raghunath Bhide
Social Work
58
Appasaheb Dharmadhikari
Social Work
59
Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal
Social Work
60
Virat Kohli
Sports-Cricket
61
Shekar Naik
Sports-Cricket
62
Vikasa Gowda
Sports-Discus Throw
63
Deepa Malik
Sports-Athletics
64
Mariyappan Thangavelu
Sports-Athletics
65
Dipa Karmakar
Sports-Gymnastics
66
P. R. Shreejesh
Sports-Hockey
67
Sakshi Malik
Sports-Wrestling
68
Mohan Reddy Venkatrama Bodanapu
Trade & Industry
69
Imrat Khan (NRI/PIO)
Art-Music
70
Anant Agarwal (NRI/PIO)
Literature & Education
71
H.R. Shah (NRI/PIO)
Literature & Education-Journalism
72
Suniti Solomon (Posthumous)
Medicine
73
Asoke Kumar Bhattacharyya (Posthumous)
Others-Archaeology
74
Dr. Mapuskar (Posthumous)
Social Work
75
Anuradha Koirala (Foreigner)
Social Work