New Delhi,  In a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Padma awards were presented to former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Sulabh International founder Bindeshwar Pathak and many other eminent personalities. President Draupadi Murmu honored M Venkaiah Naidu, Bindeshwar Pathak and famous Bharatanatyam dancer Padma Subramaniam with Padma Vibhushan. Bindeshwar Pathak was given this award posthumously.

Actor Mithun Chakraborty, singer Usha Uthup, former Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and industrialist Sitaram Jindal were awarded the Padma Bhushan. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and others were present at the ceremony.

The Padma Award, one of the country's highest civilian honours, is conferred in three categories – Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. These awards are given in various subjects or fields of activities which include arts, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil services and other fields.

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 every year on the eve of Republic Day. The President had approved the conferment of 132 Padma awards for the year 2024, including two doubles cases (in doubles cases the award is counted as one).

This list includes five Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 110 Padma Shri awards. 30 of the award winners are women. The list also includes eight people from the Foreigner/Non-Resident Indian/Person of Indian Origin/OCI category and nine posthumous award winners. About half the award winners were presented with awards on Monday, with the remaining likely to be honored next week.