The Padma Awards for the year 2017 which include 7 Padma Vibhushan, 7 Padma Bhushan and 75 Padma Shri have been announced by the government on Wednesday, January 25, and this year saw the inclusion of many unsung heroes who have been working tirelessly towards the betterment of the society and development of the traditional crafts of India.
Conferred by the President of India at a ceremonial function at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in March or April, the Padma Awards are given to the Indian citizens in recognition of their distinguished contribution in various spheres.
This year 89 citizens are being conferred the Padma Awards including 19 women awardees, 5 from the category of foreigners, NRIs, PIOs and 6 posthumous awardees.
Padma Vibhushan is the country’s second highest civilian award, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and followed by the Padma Bhushan awards. The Padma awards was instituted on January 2, 1954, where in Padma Vibhushan is awarded for “exceptional and distinguished service”, Padma Bhushan for “distinguished service of a high order” and Padma Shri is awarded for “distinguished service” , without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex.
The List of Awardees
Not only is the Padma Awards List shorter this year, the selection committee has also taken care to strike a balance between the celebrity achievers and honouring and recognising those who work silently at the grassroots level. A regional balance has also been maintained ensuring that awards have been distributed equitably across the states.
Surprisingly, there was not a single Bollywood star at the receiving end of the award.
The Celebrity List
This year saw the government awarding the Padma Vibhushan to political leaders Murli Manohar Joshi (Veteran BJP), Sharad Pawar (NCP chief), Sunderlal Patwa (ex-chief minister of Madhya Pradesh) and former Lok Sabha Speaker and Meghalaya chief minister PA Sangma (posthumous), thus cutting across affiliations.
2017 Padma awards list saw famous names in sports such as Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli, hockey captain PR Sreejesh, Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik , gymnast Dipa Karmakar for her spirited performance at Rio Olympics, and Deepa Malik for her silver medal at the Paralympics in shot put.
The list also included famous musicians such as KJ Yesudas, Kailash Kher and Anuradha Paudwal, mohan veena player and Grammy Awards winner Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, as well as spiritual leaders Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev and Ratna Sundar Maharaj, yoga exponent Swami Niranjana Nanda Saraswati and political satirist Cho Ramaswamy (posthumous).
The Unsung Heroes
Among the Padma awardees are 15 ordinary people who have been trying to make a difference in the positive direction, without vying for the limelight, through their rare talent and innovation. Among them are the following:
- Kalaripayattu exponent Meenakshi Amma received the Padma Vibhushan for practising the ancient art form said to be at the root of Chinese martial arts.
- Chintakindi Mallesham, a school drop-out who invented the Laxmi ASU machine which reduces the time and labour required to weave Pochampalli silk sarees, has got the Padma Shri in the category ‘science and engineering’.
- Daripalli Ramaiah, who has planted over 1 crore trees and is nicknamed ‘Tree Man.’
- Sixty-year-old Bipin Ganatra who has devoted his life to rescuing people from fires after losing his brother to one.
- Dr Subroto Das was on the list of awardees for setting up the Lifeline Foundation in Gujarat to help road accident victims after realising the poor state of emergency services during his own accident.
- 91-year-old gynaecologist, Dr Bhakti Yadav, who has been treating patients for free for 68 years and has delivered thousands of babies.
- Girish Bharadwaj, an engineer, who has built over 100 suspension bridges.
- Karimul Haque, an ordinary tea garden worker who became extraordinary when he converted his bike into a free 24×7 ambulance.
- Swachch Bharat pioneer Dr Mapuskar.
- Genabhai Dargabhai Patel, a physically challenged farmer who transformed the drought-prone Banaskantha into India’s largest pomegranate producer.
- Shekhar Naik, the captain of the Indian visually-challenged cricket team who led it to victory in the T-20 World Cup 2012 and ODI World Cup 2014.
The aforesaid awardees have been honoured in the absence of any recommendations and purely on the basis of research.
The Complete List
The following are the 89 recipients of the Padma Awards, 2017.
Padma Vibhushan
| No. | No.Awardee | Field of Prominence |
| 1 | Sharad Pawar | Public Affairs |
| 2 | Murli Manohar Joshi | Public Affairs |
| 3 | P.A. Sangma (posthumous) | Public Affairs |
| 4 | Sunder Lal Patwah (posthumous) | Public Affairs |
| 5 | K.J.Yesudas | Art – Music |
| 6 | Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev | Others – Spiritualism |
| 7 | Udipi Ramachandra Rao | Science & Engineering |
Padma Bhushan
| No. | No.Awardee | Field of Prominence |
| 1 | Vishwa Mohan Bhatt | Art – Music |
| 2 | Devi Prasad Dwivedi | Literature & Education |
| 3 | Tehemton Udwadia | Medicine |
| 4 | Ratna Sundar Maharaj | Others-Spiritualism |
| 5 | Swami Niranjana Nanda Saraswati | Others-Yoga |
| 6 | H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn (Foreigner) | Literature & Education |
| 7 | Cho Ramaswamy (Posthumous) | Literature & Education –Journalism |
Padma Shri
| No. | No.Awardee | Field of Prominence |
| 1 | Basanti Bisht | Art-Music |
| 2 | Chemanchery Kunhiraman Nair | Art-Dance |
| 3 | Aruna Mohanty | Art-Dance |
| 4 | Bharathi Vishnuvardhan | Art-Cinema |
| 5 | Sadhu Meher | Art-Cinema |
| 6 | T K Murthy | Art-Music |
| 7 | Laishram Birendrakumar Singh | Art-Music |
| 8 | Krishna Ram Chaudhary | Art-Music |
| 9 | Baoa Devi | Art-Painting |
| 10 | Tilak Gitai | Art-Painting |
| 11 | Aekka Yadagiri Rao | Art-Sculpture |
| 12 | Jitendra Haripal | Art-Music |
| 13 | Kailash Kher | Art-Music |
| 14 | Parassala B Ponnammal | Art-Music |
| 15 | Sukri Bommagowda | Art-Music |
| 16 | Mukund Nayak | Art-Music |
| 17 | Purushottam Upadhyay | Art-Music |
| 18 | Anuradha Paudwal | Art-Music |
| 19 | Wareppa Naba Ni | Art-Theatre |
| 20 | Tripuraneni Hanuman Chowdary | Civil Service |
| 21 | T.K. Viswanathan | Civil Service |
| 22 | Kanwal Sibal | Civil Service |
| 23 | Birkha Bahadur Limboo Muringla | Literature & Education |
| 24 | Eli Ahmed | Literature & Education |
| 25 | Narendra Kohli | Literature & Education |
| 26 | G. Venkatasubbiah | Literature & Education |
| 27 | Akkitham Achyuthan Namboothiri | Literature & Education |
| 28 | Kashi Nath Pandita | Literature & Education |
| 29 | Chamu Krishna Shastry | Literature & Education |
| 30 | Harihar Kripalu Tripathi | Literature & Education |
| 31 | Michel Danino | Literature & Education |
| 32 | Punam Suri | Literature & Education |
| 33 | VG Patel | Literature & Education |
| 34 | V Koteswaramma | Literature & Education |
| 35 | Balbir Dutt | Literature & Education-Journalism |
| 36 | Bhawana Somaaya | Literature & Education-Journalism |
| 37 | Vishnu Pandya | Literature & Education-Journalism |
| 38 | Subroto Das | Medicine |
| 39 | Bhakti Yadav | Medicine |
| 40 | Mohammed Abdul Waheed | Medicine |
| 41 | Madan Madhav Godbole | Medicine |
| 42 | Devendra Dayabhai Patel | Medicine |
| 43 | Harkishan Singh | Medicine |
| 44 | Mukut Minz | Medicine |
| 45 | Arun Kumar Sharma | Others-Archaeology |
| 46 | Sanjeev Kapoor | Others Culinary |
| 47 | Meenakshi Amma | Others-Martial Art |
| 48 | Genabhai Dargabhai Patel | Others-Agriculture |
| 49 | Chandrakant Pithawa | Science & Engineering |
| 50 | Ajoy Kumar Ray | Science & Engineering |
| 51 | Chintakindi Mallesham | Science & Engineering |
| 52 | Jitendra Nath Goswami | Science & Engineering |
| 53 | Daripalli Ramaiah | Social Work |
| 54 | Girish Bhardwaj | Social Work |
| 55 | Karimul Hak | Social Work |
| 56 | Bipin Ganatra | Social Work |
| 57 | Nivedita Raghunath Bhide | Social Work |
| 58 | Appasaheb Dharmadhikari | Social Work |
| 59 | Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal | Social Work |
| 60 | Virat Kohli | Sports-Cricket |
| 61 | Shekar Naik | Sports-Cricket |
| 62 | Vikasa Gowda | Sports-Discus Throw |
| 63 | Deepa Malik | Sports-Athletics |
| 64 | Mariyappan Thangavelu | Sports-Athletics |
| 65 | Dipa Karmakar | Sports-Gymnastics |
| 66 | P. R. Shreejesh | Sports-Hockey |
| 67 | Sakshi Malik | Sports-Wrestling |
| 68 | Mohan Reddy Venkatrama Bodanapu | Trade & Industry |
| 69 | Imrat Khan (NRI/PIO) | Art-Music |
| 70 | Anant Agarwal (NRI/PIO) | Literature & Education |
| 71 | H.R. Shah (NRI/PIO) | Literature & Education-Journalism |
| 72 | Suniti Solomon (Posthumous) | Medicine |
| 73 | Asoke Kumar Bhattacharyya (Posthumous) | Others-Archaeology |
| 74 | Dr. Mapuskar (Posthumous) | Social Work |
| 75 | Anuradha Koirala (Foreigner) | Social Work |
