Winners of Padma Awards - one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, have been announed. These are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.
The Awards are given in various disciplines/ fields of activities, viz.- art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.
‘Padma Vibhushan’ is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; ‘Padma Bhushan’ for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.
The winners in the medicine field include-
Duvvur Nageshwar Reddy (Padma Vibhushan)
Jose Chacko Periappuram (Padma Bhushan)
Ashok Kumar Mahapatra (Padma Shri)
Budhendra Kumar Jain (Padma Shri)
Hemant Kumar (Padma Shri)
Neerja Bhatla (Padma Shri)
Sheikha Shaikha Ali Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (Padma Shri)
Soniya Nityanand (Padma Shri)
Vijayalakshmi Deshamane (Padma Shri)
Dr Chetan Chitnis (Padma Shri) and Prof Pankaj Patel (Padma Bhushan) are some of the other winners working in the area of life sciences.
These Awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March/ April every year. For the year 2025, the President has approved conferment of 139 Padma Awards including1 duo case (in a duo case, the Award is counted as one).
The list comprises 7 Padma Vibhushan, 19 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri Awards. 23 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and13 Posthumous awardees.
