Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Mary Kom among 141 Padma Awards recipients

New Delhi: Former Union ministers George Fernandes, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj have been honoured with the prestigious Padma Vibhushan posthumously on the Republic Day this year. Olympian boxer Mary Kom, former Mauritius Prime Minister Anerood Gugnath and Hindustani classical singer Chhannulal Mishra are also on the list of Padma Vibhushan — the country's second-highest civilian award — recipients.

President Ram Nath Kovind has approved the conferment of 141 Padma awards. The list comprises seven Padma Vibhushan, 16 Padma Bhushan and 118 Padma Shri awards.

The Padma Shri for this year has been awarded to a total of 118 eminent personalities across fields of art, literature and education, medicine, trade and industry, sports, public affairs, social work and science and engineering. Prominent names among the awardees include sportsperson P V Sindhu, architect Balkrishna Doshi, businessman Anand Mahindra, former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar (posthumously), directors Karan Johar and Ekta Kapoor, actor Kangana Ranaut, singer Adnan Sami and mathematician Vashishtha Narayan Singh (posthumously) and singer Suresh Wadkar.

From West Bengal, Pandit Ajoy Chakravorty has been awarded the Padma Bhushan. Kazi Masum Akhtar has won the Padma Shri in literature and education along with Dr Sushovan Banerjee for medicine.

Congratulating the recipients for their contributions in the respective fields, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on Twitter: "Congratulations to all those who have been conferred the Padma Awards. The awardees include extraordinary individuals who have made exceptional contributions to our society, nation and humanity."