The Padma Awards are one of the highest civilian honours of India, 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 annually on the eve of Republic Day.
The Government of India instituted two civilian awards-Bharat Ratna & Padma Vibhushan in 1954. The Padma Vibhushan had three classes namely ‘Pahela Varg’, ‘Dusra Varg’ and ‘Tisra Varg’. These were subsequently renamed as Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri vide Presidential Notification issued on January 8, 1955.
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In 2021 the President of India has approved conferment of 119 Padma Awards including 1 duo case (in a duo case, the Award is counted as one) as per list below. The list comprises 7 Padma Vibhushan, 10 Padma Bhushan and 102 Padma Shri Awards. 29 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI, 16 posthumous awardees and 1 transgender awardee.
Padma Vibhushan
| SN | Name | Field | State/Country |
| 1 | Shinzo Abe | Public Affairs | Japan |
| 2 | S P Balasubramaniam
(Posthumous) |
Art | Tamil Nadu |
| 3 | Dr. Belle Monappa Hegde | Medicine | Karnataka |
| 4 | Narinder Singh Kapany
(Posthumous) |
Science and Engineering | United States of
America |
| 5 | Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | Others- Spiritualism | Delhi |
| 6 | B. B. Lal | Others- Archaeology | Delhi |
| 7 | Sudarshan Sahoo | Art | Odisha |
Padma Bhushan
| 8 | Krishnan Nair Shantakumari
Chithra |
Art | Kerala |
| 9 | Tarun Gogoi
(Posthumous) |
Public Affairs | Assam |
| 10 | Chandrashekhar Kambara | Literature and
Education |
Karnataka |
| 11 | Sumitra Mahajan | Public Affairs | Madhya Pradesh |
| 12 | Nripendra Misra | Civil Service | Uttar Pradesh |
| 13 | Ram Vilas Paswan
(Posthumous) |
Public Affairs | Bihar |
| 14 | Keshubhai Patel
(Posthumous) |
Public Affairs | Gujarat |
| 15 | Kalbe Sadiq
(Posthumous) |
Others-Spiritualism | Uttar Pradesh |
| 16 | Rajnikant Devidas Shroff | Trade and Industry | Maharashtra |
| 17 | Tarlochan Singh | Public Affairs | Haryana |
Padma Shri
| 18 | Gulfam Ahmed | Art | Uttar Pradesh |
| 19 | P. Anitha | Sports | Tamil Nadu |
| 20 | Rama Swamy Annavarapu | Art | Andhra Pradesh |
| 21 | Subbu Arumugam | Art | Tamil Nadu |
| 22 | Prakasarao Asavadi | Literature and Education | Andhra Pradesh |
| 23 | Bhuri Bai | Art | Madhya Pradesh |
| 24 | Radhe Shyam Barle | Art | Chhattisgarh |
| 25 | Dharma Narayan Barma | Literature and Education | West Bengal |
| 26 | Lakhimi Baruah | Social Work | Assam |
| 27 | Biren Kumar Basak | Art | West Bengal |
| 28 | Rajni Bector | Trade and Industry | Punjab |
| 29 | Peter Brook | Art | United Kingdom |
| 30 | Sangkhumi Bualchhuak | Social Work | Mizoram |
| 31 | Gopiram Bargayn Burabhakat | Art | Assam |
| 32 | Bijoya Chakravarty | Public Affairs | Assam |
| 33 | Sujit Chattopadhyay | Literature and Education | West Bengal |
| 34 | Jagdish Chaudhary (Posthumous) | Social Work | Uttar Pradesh |
| 35 | Tsultrim Chonjor | Social Work | Ladakh |
| 36 | Mouma Das | Sports | West Bengal |
| 37 | Srikant Datar | Literature and Education | United States of |
| America | |||
| 38 | Narayan Debnath | Art | West Bengal |
| 39 | Chutni Devi | Social Work | Jharkhand |
| 40 | Dulari Devi | Art | Bihar |
| 41 | Radhe Devi | Art | Manipur |
| 42 | Shanti Devi | Social Work | Odisha |
| 43 | Wayan Dibia | Art | Indonesia |
| 44 | Dadudan Gadhavi | Literature & Education | Gujarat |
| 45 | Parshuram Atmaram Gangavane | Art | Maharashtra |
| 46 | Jai Bhagwan Goyal | Literature and Education | Haryana |
| 47 | Jagadish Chandra Halder | Literature and Education | West Bengal |
| 48 | Mangal Singh Hazowary | Literature and Education | Assam |
| 49 | Anshu Jamsenpa | Sports | Arunachal Pradesh |
| 50 | Purnamasi Jani | Art | Odisha |
| 51 | Matha B. Manjamma Jogati | Art | Karnataka |
| 52 | Damodaran Kaithapram | Art | Kerala |
| 53 | Namdeo C Kamble | Literature and Education | Maharashtra |
| 54 | Maheshbhai & Shri Nareshbhai Kanodia (Duo) * (Posthumous) | Art | Gujarat |
| 55 | Rajat Kumar Kar | Literature and Education | Odisha |
| 56 | Rangasami Lakshminarayana Kashyap | Literature and Education | Karnataka |
| 57 | Prakash Kaur | Social Work | Punjab |
| 58 | Nicholas Kazanas | Literature and Education | Greece |
| 59 | K Kesavasamy | Art | Puducherry |
| 60 | Ghulam Rasool Khan | Art | Jammu and |
| Kashmir | |||
| 61 | Lakha Khan | Art | Rajasthan |
| 62 | Sanjida Khatun | Art | Bangladesh |
| 63 | Vinayak Vishnu Khedekar | Art | Goa |
| 64 | Niru Kumar | Social Work | Delhi |
| 65 | Lajwanti | Art | Punjab |
| 66 | Rattan Lal | Science and Engineering | United States of |
| America | |||
| 67 | Ali Manikfan | Others-Grassroots | Lakshadweep |
| Innovation | |||
| 68 | Ramachandra Manjhi | Art | Bihar |
| 69 | Dulal Manki | Art | Assam |
| 70 | Nanadro B Marak | Others- Agriculture | Meghalaya |
| 71 | Rewben Mashangva | Art | Manipur |
| 72 | Chandrakant Mehta | Literature and Education | Gujarat |
| 73 | Dr. Rattan Lal Mittal | Medicine | Punjab |
| 74 | Madhavan Nambiar | Sports | Kerala |
| 75 | Shyam Sundar Paliwal | Social Work | Rajasthan |
| 76 | Dr. Chandrakant Sambhaji Pandav | Medicine | Delhi |
| 77 | Dr. J N Pande (Posthumous) | Medicine | Delhi |
| 78 | Solomon Pappaiah | Literature and Education- Journalism | Tamil Nadu |
| 79 | Pappammal | Others- Agriculture | Tamil Nadu |
| 80 | Dr. Krishna Mohan Pathi | Medicine | Odisha |
| 81 | Jaswantiben Jamnadas Popat | Trade and Industry | Maharashtra |
| 82 | Girish Prabhune | Social Work | Maharashtra |
| 83 | Nanda Prusty | Literature and Education | Odisha |
| 84 | K K Ramachandra Pulavar | Art | Kerala |
| 85 | Balan Putheri | Literature and Education | Kerala |
| 86 | Birubala Rabha | Social Work | Assam |
| 87 | Kanaka Raju | Art | Telangana |
| 88 | Bombay Jayashri Ramnath | Art | Tamil Nadu |
| 89 | Satyaram Reang | Art | Tripura |
| 90 | Dr. Dhananjay Diwakar Sagdeo | Medicine | Kerala |
| 91 | Ashok Kumar Sahu | Medicine | Uttar Pradesh |
| 92 | Dr. Bhupendra Kumar Singh Sanjay | Medicine | Uttarakhand |
| 93 | Sindhutai Sapkal | Social Work | Maharashtra |
| 94 | Chaman Lal Sapru (Posthumous) | Literature and Education | Jammu and |
| 95 | Roman Sarmah | Literature and Education- Journalism |
Assam |
| 96 | Imran Shah | Literature and Education | Assam |
| 97 | Prem Chand Sharma | Others- Agriculture | Uttarakhand |
| 98 | Arjun Singh Shekhawat | Literature and Education | Rajasthan |
| 99 | Ram Yatna Shukla | Literature and Education | Uttar Pradesh |
| 100 | Jitender Singh Shunty | Social Work | Delhi |
| 101 | Kartar Paras Ram Singh | Art | Himachal Pradesh |
| 102 | Kartar Singh | Art | Punjab |
| 103 | Dr. Dilip Kumar Singh | Medicine | Bihar |
| 104 | Chandra Shekhar Singh | Others-Agriculture | Uttar Pradesh |
| 105 | Sudha Hari Narayan Singh | Sports | Uttar Pradesh |
| 106 | Virender Singh | Sports | Haryana |
| 107 | Mridula Sinha (Posthumous) | Literature and Education | Bihar |
| 108 | K C Sivasankar (Posthumous) | Art | Tamil Nadu |
| 109 | Guru Maa Kamali Soren | Social Work | West Bengal |
| 110 | Marachi Subburaman | Social Work | Tamil Nadu |
| 111 | P Subramanian (Posthumous) | Trade and Industry | Tamil Nadu |
| 112 | Nidumolu Sumathi | Art | Andhra Pradesh |
| 113 | Kapil Tiwari | Literature and Education | Madhya Pradesh |
| 114 | Father Vallés (Posthumous) | Literature and Education | Spain |
| 115 | Thiruvengadam Veeraraghavan (Posthumous) | Medicine | Tamil Nadu |
| 116 | Sridhar Vembu | Trade and Industry | Tamil Nadu |
| 117 | K Y Venkatesh | Sports | Karnataka |
| 118 | Usha Yadav | Literature and Education | Uttar Pradesh |
| 119 | Col Quazi Sajjad Ali Zahir | Public Affairs | Bangladesh |
* In duo case, the award is counted as one.
The Padma Awards are conferred as per the recommendations of the Padma Awards Committee constituted by the Prime Minister every year. The nomination process for the award is open to the public. Even self-nomination can be made. These awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial function held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March/ April every year.