Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Mary Kom Among 141 Padma Awards Recipients

Former central ministers Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and George Fernandes, have been posthumously awarded Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honour, the Ministry of Home Affairs announced on Saturday. Former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has been given Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award. All the four BJP stalwarts had died last year. This year's Padma Awards list includes 7 Padma Vibhushan, 16 Padma Bhushan and 118 Padma Shri Awards (fourth highest civilian honour), the statement said, adding 34 of the awardees are women.

Olympic medal winner boxer MC Mary Kom has been given Padma Vibhushan; badminton star PV Sindhu has been conferred Padma Bhushan.

Renowned classical singer from Varanasi, Chhannulal Mishra, is among the Padma Vibhushan awardees; whereas playback singer Suresh Wadkar has been awarded the fourth highest civilian honour.

Bollywood personalities - Karan Johar, Ekta Kapoor and Kangana Ranaut- are among the Padma Shri awardees.

18 people from the category of "Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI" have also been awarded. Mauritius Prime Minister Anerood Gugnauth has got the second highest civilian honour.

Industrialists Anand Mahindra and Venu Shrinivasan, former Nagaland Chief Minister SC Jamir and Jammu and Kashmir politician Muzaffar Hussain Baig have been awarded Padma Bhushan.

Naukri.com founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani, industrialist Bharat Goenka, and technocrat Nemnath Jain have been given Padma Shri.

'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.