A total of 89 Padma awardees were conferred this year's awards by President Pranab Mukherjee at a special function held in Rashtrapati Bhavan. Political leaders like Sharad Pawar, Murli Manohar Joshi, cricketer Virat Kohli, and Bollywood singer Anuradha Paudwal, were amongst the recipients. The function was attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, senior BJP leader LK Advani, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Union Ministers, and other top bureaucrats.
Joshi, Pawar, late Lok Sabha Speaker PA Sangma, and former chairman of ISRO Prof. Udipi Ramachandra Rao, were conferred the country's second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan. The Padma Bhushan awards were given to Yoga guru Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati, Thai princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, and the Father of Laparoscopic Surgery in India, Tehemton Erach Udwadia.
Meanwhile, the Padma Shri was conferred to folk singer Basanti Bisht, entrepreneur Mohan Reddy Venkat Rama Bodanapu, Madhubani artist Baoa Devi, writer Narendra Kohli, para-athlete Deepa Malik, and journalist Vishnu Pandya, amongst others. The 89 Padma awardees included seven recipients each for Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan.
Gujarat's Vishnu Pandya is a renowned journalist, editor, and author of three novels. Born in a small town Manavadar in Saurashtra, in 1945, Vishnu Pandya served as general secretary of Vishwa Gujarati Samaj from 2009 to 2015. He is also chairman of Gujarat History Research Centre, Gandhinagar. He has also been conferred with numerous awards and prizes. He received the Narmad Chandrak from Narmad Sahitya Sabha in 1991, and the Kaka Kalelkar Prize for his book Misavasyam.
