The 2026 Padma Awards recipients were announced on the eve of Republic Day, recognising 45 unsung heroes for their exceptional contributions in fields such as social work, literature, education, healthcare, public service, and community welfare.
This year’s honourees include individuals from marginalised communities, Dalit and backward groups, tribal regions, and remote areas, many of whom have worked quietly at the grassroots for decades. The list highlights those serving women, children, ‘Divyangjan’, and tribal communities while advancing education, healthcare, sanitation, sustainability, and livelihoods.
The Padma Awards, among India’s highest civilian honours, are presented in three categories: Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri.
The Padma Awards are conferred across various fields, including art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, and civil service. The Padma Vibhushan recognises exceptional and distinguished service, the Padma Bhushan honours distinguished service of high order, and the Padma Shri acknowledges distinguished service in any field. Awards are announced annually on Republic Day and conferred by the President of India at Rashtrapati Bhavan, typically in March or April.
For 2026, the President approved 131 Padma Awards, including 2 duo cases (counted as one each): 5 Padma Vibhushan, 13 Padma Bhushan, and 113 Padma Shri. The list includes 19 women, 6 foreign/NRI/PIO/OCI recipients, and 16 posthumous awardees. Actor Dharmendra and former Kerala CM VS Achuthanandan received the Padma Vibhushan posthumously, while former Jharkhand CM Shibu Soren, singer Alka Yagnik, tennis legend Vijay Amritraj, and Malayalam superstar Mammootty are among the Padma Bhushan awardees.
Padma Vibhushan (5)
1 Shri Dharmendra Singh Deol (Posthumous) – Art (Maharashtra)
2 Shri K T Thomas- Public Affairs (Kerala)
3 Ms N Rajam- Art ((Uttar Pradesh))
4 Shri P Narayanan- Literature and Education (Kerala)
5 Shri V S Achuthanandhan (Posthumous)- Public Affairs (Kerala)
Padma Bhushan (13)
6 Ms Alka Yagnik- Art (Maharashtra)
7 Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari- Public Affairs (Uttarakhand)
8 Shri Kallipatti Ramasamy Palaniswamy- Medicine (Tamil Nadu)
9 Shri Mammootty- Art (Kerala)
10 Dr Nori Dattatreyudu- Medicine (United States of America)
11 Shri Piyush Pandey (Posthumous)- Art (Maharashtra)
12 Shri S K M Maeilanandhan- Social Work (Tamil Nadu)
13 Shri Shatavadhani R Ganesh - Art (Karnataka)
14 Shri Shibu Soren (Posthumous)- Public Affairs (Jharkhand)
15 Shri Uday Kotak- Trade and Industry (Maharashtra)
16 Shri V K Malhotra (Posthumous)- Public Affairs (Delhi)
17 Shri Vellappally Natesan- Public Affairs (Kerala)
18 Shri Vijay Amritraj- Sports (United States of America)
Padma Shri (113)
19 Shri A E Muthunayagam- Science and Engineering (Kerala)
20 Shri Anil Kumar Rastogi- Art (Uttar Pradesh)
21 Shri Anke Gowda M.- Social Work (Karnataka)
22 Ms. Armida Fernandez- Medicine (Maharashtra)
23 Shri Arvind Vaidya- Art (Gujarat)
24 Shri Ashok Khade- Trade and Industry (Maharashtra)
25 Shri Ashok Kumar Singh- Science and Engineering (Uttar Pradesh)
26 Shri Asok Kumar Haldar- Literature and Education (West Bengal)
27 Shri Baldev Singh- Sports (Punjab)
28 Shri Bhagwandas Raikwar- Sports (Madhya Pradesh)
29 Shri Bharat Singh Bharti-Art (Bihar)
30 Shri Bhiklya Ladakya Dhinda- Art (Maharashtra)
31 Shri Bishwa Bandhu (Posthumous)- Art (Bihar)
32 Shri Brij Lal Bhat- Social Work (Jammu and Kashmir)
33 Shri Buddha Rashmi Mani- Others – Archaeology (Uttar Pradesh)
34 Dr Budhri Tati- Social Work (Chhattisgarh)
35 Shri Chandramouli Gaddamanugu- Science and Engineering (Telangana)
36 Shri Charan Hembram- Literature and Education (Odisha)
37 Shri Chiranji Lal Yadav- Art (Uttar Pradesh)
38 Ms Deepika Reddy-Art (Telangana)
39 Shri Dharmiklal Chunilal Pandya-Art (Gujarat)
40 Shri Gadde Babu Rajendra Prasad- Art (Andhra Pradesh)
41 Shri Gafruddin Mewati Jogi- Art (Rajasthan)
42 Shri Gambir Singh Yonzone- Literature and Education (West Bengal)
43 Shri Garimella Balakrishna Prasad (Posthumous)- Art (Andhra Pradesh)
44 Ms. Gayatri Balasubramanian and Ms. Ranjani Balasubramanian (Duo)*- Art (Tamil Nadu)
45 Shri Gopal Ji Trivedi- Science and Engineering (Bihar)
46 Shri Guduru Venkat Rao-Medicine (Telangana)
47 Shri H V Hande- Medicine (Tamil Nadu)
48 Shri Hally War- Social Work (Meghalaya)
49 Shri Hari Madhab Mukhopadhyay (Posthumous)- Art (West Bengal)
50 Shri Haricharan Saikia- Art (Assam)
51 Ms. Harmanpreet Kaur Bhullar- Sports (Punjab)
52 Shri Inderjit Singh Sidhu- Social Work (Chandigarh)
53 Shri Janardan Bapurao Bothe- Social Work (Maharashtra)
54 Shri Jogesh Deuri- Others – Agriculture (Assam)
55 Shri Juzer Vasi- Science and Engineering (Maharashtra)
56 Shri Jyotish Debnath- Art (West Bengal)
57 Shri K Pajanivel- Sports (Puducherry)
58 Shri K Ramasamy- Science and Engineering (Tamil Nadu)
59 Shri K Vijay Kumar- Civil Service (Tamil Nadu)
60 Shri Kabindra Purkayastha (Posthumous)- Public Affairs (Assam)
61 Shri Kailash Chandra Pant- Literature and Education (Madhya Pradesh)
62 Ms. Kalamandalam Vimala Menon- Art (Kerala)
63 Shri Kewal Krishan Thakral- Medicine (Uttar Pradesh)
64 Shri Khem Raj Sundriyal- Art (Haryana)
65 Ms Kollakal Devaki Amma G- Social Work (Kerala)
66 Shri Krishnamurty Balasubramanian- Science and Engineering (Telangana)
67 Shri Kumar Bose- Art (West Bengal)
68 Shri Kumarasamy Thangaraj- Science and Engineering (Telangana)
69 Prof (Dr) Lars-Christian Koch- Art (Germany)
70 Ms. Liudmila Viktorovna Khokhlova- Literature and Education (Russia)
71 Shri Madhavan Ranganathan- Art (Maharashtra)
72 Shri Maganti Murali Mohan- Art (Andhra Pradesh)
73 Shri Mahendra Kumar Mishra- Literature and Education (Odisha)
74 Shri Mahendra Nath Roy- Literature and Education (West Bengal)
75 Shri Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar- Literature and Education (Delhi)
76 Ms Mangala Kapoor- Literature and Education (Uttar Pradesh)
77 Shri Mir Hajibhai Kasambhai- Art (Gujarat)
78 Shri Mohan Nagar- Social Work (Madhya Pradesh)
79 Shri Narayan Vyas- Others – Archaeology (Madhya Pradesh)
80 Shri Naresh Chandra Dev Varma- Literature and Education (Tripura)
81 Shri Nilesh Vinodchandra Mandlewala- Social Work (Gujarat)
82 Shri Nuruddin Ahmed- Art (Assam)
83 Shri Othuvaar Thiruthani Swaminathan- Art (Tamil Nadu)
84 Dr Padma Gurmet- Medicine (Ladakh)
85 Shri Palkonda Vijay Anand Reddy- Medicine (Telangana)
86 Ms Pokhila Lekthepi- Art (Assam)
87 Dr Prabhakar Basavprabhu Kore- Literature and Education (Karnataka)
88 Shri Prateek Sharma- Medicine (United States of America)
89 Shri Praveen Kumar- Sports (Uttar Pradesh)
90 Shri Prem Lal Gautam- Science and Engineering (Himachal Pradesh)
91 Shri Prosenjit Chatterjee- Art (West Bengal)
92 Dr. Punniamurthy Natesan- Medicine (Tamil Nadu)
93 Shri R Krishnan (Posthumous)- Art (Tamil Nadu)
94 Shri R V S Mani- Civil Service (Delhi)
95 Shri Rabilal Tudu- Literature and Education (West Bengal)
96 Shri Raghupat Singh (Posthumous)-Others – Agriculture (Uttar Pradesh)
97 Shri Raghuveer Tukaram Khedkar- Art (Maharashtra)
98 Shri Rajastapathi Kaliappa Goundar- Art (Tamil Nadu)
99 Shri Rajendra Prasad-Medicine (Uttar Pradesh)
100 Shri Rama Reddy Mamidi (Posthumous)- Others - Animal Husbandry (Telangana)
101 Shri Ramamurthy Sreedher-Others - Radio Broadcasting (Delhi)
102 Shri Ramchandra Godbole and Ms. Suneeta Godbole (Duo)*-Medicine (Chhattisgarh)
103 Shri Ratilal Borisagar- Literature and Education (Gujarat)
104 Shri Rohit Sharma- Sports (Maharashtra)
105 Ms S G Susheelamma- Social Work (Karnataka)
106 Shri Sangyusang S Pongener- Art (Nagaland)
107 Sant Niranjan Dass- Others – Spiritualism (Punjab)
108 Shri Sarat Kumar Patra- Art (Odisha)
109 Shri Saroj Mandal- Medicine (West Bengal)
110 Shri Satish Shah (Posthumous)- Art (Maharashtra)
111 Shri Satyanarayan Nuwal- Trade and Industry (Maharashtra)
112 Ms. Savita Punia- Sports (Haryana)
113 Prof. Shafi Shauq- Literature and Education (Jammu and Kashmir)
114 Shri Shashi Shekhar Vempati- Literature and Education (Karnataka)
115 Shri Shrirang Devaba Lad- Others – Agriculture (Maharashtra)
116 Ms Shubha Venkatesha Iyengar- Science and Engineering (Karnataka)
117 Shri Shyam Sundar- Medicine (Uttar Pradesh)
118 Shri Simanchal Patro- Art (Odisha)
119 Ms Sivasankari-Literature and Education (Tamil Nadu)
120 Dr. Suresh Hanagavadi- Medicine (Karnataka)
121 Swami Brahmdev Ji Maharaj- Social Work (Rajasthan)
122 Shri T T Jagannathan (Posthumous)- Trade and Industry (Karnataka)
123 Shri Taga Ram Bheel- Art (Rajasthan)
124 Shri Tarun Bhattacharya- Art (West Bengal)
125 Shri Techi Gubin- Social Work (Arunachal Pradesh)
126 Shri Thiruvaarur Bakthavathsalam- Art (Tamil Nadu)
127 Ms Tripti Mukherjee- Art (West Bengal)
128 Shri Veezhinathan Kamakoti- Science and Engineering (Tamil Nadu)
129 Shri Vempaty Kutumba Sastry- Literature and Education (Andhra Pradesh)
130 Shri Vladimer Mestvirishvili (Posthumous)- Sports (Georgia)
131 Shri Yumnam Jatra Singh (Posthumous)- Art (Manipur)
