NEW DELHI: Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and Dilip Mahalanabis, who pioneered the Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS), and noted architect Balkrishna Doshi have been named for Padma Vibhushan posthumously, with the government announcing Padma awards for 2023 on the eve of the 74th Republic Day.
The list comprises six Padma Vibhushan, nine Padma Bhushan and 91 Padma Shri awards. Nineteen of the awardees are women. There are seven posthumous awardees.
Other Padma Vibhushan awardees are former External Affairs Minister and former Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna (Public Affairs), tabla maestro Zakir Hussain (Art) and Srinivas Vardhan (Science and Engineering).
Former Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav has been honored posthumously for his services in Public Affairs), Dilip Mahalanabis (Medicine) and Balkrishna Doshi (Architecture).
The nine Padma Bhushan awardees include Kumar Manglam Birla (Trade and Industry), Vani Jairam (Art), Sudha Murty (Social Work) and Chinna Jeeyar and Kamlesh D Patel (Others – Spiritualism). The 91 Padma Shri awardees include actor Raveena Ravi Tandon and RRR music composer MM Keeravaani.
Padma Awards – 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 and fields of activities such as art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service.
‘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 awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March and April every year. (ANI)