President Ram Nath Kovind ahead of Republic Day celebrations, announced the names of Padma award winners consisting of 128 recipient.

India's first Chief of Defence Staff, who died last month in a horrific chopper crash, General Bipin Rawat has been honoured with Padma Vibhushan - the country's second-highest civilian award - posthumously.

Vaccine makers – Cyrus Poonawalla of Serum Institute’; Krishna Ella and Suchitra Ella of Bharat Biotech maker of Covarix have been honoured Padma Bhushan.

The head of Tech giants and global conglomerate; Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and Google, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai will also be conferred with the Padma Bhushan in the ‘trade and industry’ category.

Singer Sonu Nigam and Olympic gold-medallist Neeraj Chopra have been honoured with a Padma Shri.

Renowned classical vocalist Dr Prabha Atre of the Kirana Gharana awarded the Padma Vibhushan and late Radheshyam Khemka, the president of Gita Press. Veteran actor Victor Banerjee, known for films such as Satyajit Ray classic Ghare Baire and David Lean’s epic A Passage of India, was awarded the Padma Bhushan.

Among the categories of Public Affairs, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad will be conferred with Padma Bhushan along with former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh will be conferred with the Padma Vibhushan posthumously.

Padma Awards - one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, 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 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.