President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday presented the Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri awards for 2019 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi. Former cricketer Gautam Gambhir, actor Manoj Bajpayee, mountaineer Bachendri Pal, ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan and Odisha tea seller D Prakash Rao were among the recipients of the honour. One of the highest civilian awards of the country, the Padma Awards were conferred at the 2019 Civil Investiture Ceremony.
A part of the Padma Awards ceremony was earlier held last week on Monday in which former foreign secretary S Jaishankar, Akali Dal leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, film personalities Mohanlal and Prabhu Deva received the honour among others.
Here are the pictures from the Padma Awards ceremony 2019:
President Kovind presents Padma Bhushan to Shri Darshan Lal Jain for Social Work. A freedom fighter and President of Saraswati Nadi Shodh Sansthan, he is recognised for his service and contribution to social welfare pic.twitter.com/fHUh1ILUzf
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) March 16, 2019
President Kovind presents Padma Shri to Smt Saalumarada Thimmakka for Social Work. Aged 107, Smt Thimmakka is an environmentalist from Karnataka and is known for planting banyan trees along a 4 km stretch of highway from her village Hulikal to Kudur pic.twitter.com/90szHsDxWP
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) March 16, 2019
President Kovind presents Padma Bhushan to Mahashay Dharampal Gulati for Trade & Industry. He is the Chairman of 'Mahashian Di Hatti' (MDH) and an icon in the Indian food industry pic.twitter.com/I109601WsI
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) March 16, 2019
President Kovind presents Padma Vibhushan to Shri Anilkumar Manibhai Naik for Trade & Industry. Shri Naik is the Group Chairman of Larsen & Toubro and among India's most respected business leaders pic.twitter.com/emzo1moZhW
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) March 16, 2019
This year, 112 Padma awards, including four Padma Vibhushan, 14 Padma Bhushan and 94 Padma Shri, were announced on Republic Day.
Twenty-one of the awardees are women, 11 foreigners/non-resident Indian/Person of Indian-origin/Overseas citizen of India, three posthumous awardees and one transgender person.
The awards are given in various disciplines -- art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, and civil service, among others.
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.
For full list of Padma Awardees 2019. Click here.
This year's awardees are from across the nation, all segments of society and the government has gone beyond excellence alone, recognising larger impact and their selfless service.
A record 50,000 nominations were received for the 2019 awards, over 20 times more than 2014, when there were just 2,200 nominations.
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