President Ram Nath Kovind conferred Padma awards at Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi today. Padma Awards were announced on the eve of Republic Day. It includes 21 women and 11 persons from the category of Foreigners, Non-resident Indian (NRI), Persons of Indian Origin Card (PIO), Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) and 1 transgender person. Fifty-six of the 112 personalities, who were selected for this year’s Padma Awards, were conferred the honor at a special function. The remaining awardees are likely to be conferred the honor at another function, which will be held later in March. Folk Singer from Chhattisgarh Teejan Bai, President of Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh, Noted author and Maratha history scholar Babasaheb Purandare and executive chairman of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Anil Kumar Manibhai Naik are recipients of Padma Vibhushan this year. Fourteen persons have been selected for Padma Bhushan, which includes Scientist Nambi Narayan, Malayalam Actor Mohanlal, South African politician Pravin Gordhan, and late journalist Kuldip Nayar. Total Ninety Four Padma Shri will be given in 2019. The recipients include Sportspersons Sunil Chettri, Gautam Gambhir, Harika Dronavalli, Sharat Kamal, Dancer Nartaki Natraj, Farmers Kamala Pujhari and Ram Saran Verma and Social Worker Muktaben Dagli, who is working for the welfare of Divyangjans.
