President Droupadi Murmu conferred Padma awards to 71 eminent personalities for the year 2025 at the first Civil Investiture Ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. Of them four were conferred with Padma Vibhushan, 10 with Padma Bhushan and 57 personalities were conferred with Padma Shri.
D Nageshwar Reddy, Dr Lakshminarayana Subramaniam were conferred with Padma Vibhushan for their contribution in medicine and art field, respectively, while M T Vasudevan Nair and Osamu Suzuki were honoured with Padma Vibhushan posthumously. Among those honoured with Padma Bhushan are Nandamuri Balakrishna, Shekhar Kapur, former Indian hockey team captain Sreejesh P R, while former deputy chief minister of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi was conferred posthumously. Those honoured with Padma Shri include Cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin, former SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya, Stephen Knapp, Ronu Majumdar, and classic vocalist Dr K Omankutty Amma. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers including Amit Shah and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.
The awards are given in various disciplines and fields of activities including art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, and civil service.
Carnatic vocalist Dr. K Omankutty Amma got the Padma Shri award for her contribution in the field of art. She recalled her days, working with All India Radio and expressed the public broadcaster’s contribution in shaping her career. American author, Stephen Knapp, was among the 71 people who received Padma awards this year.
Pankaj Patel, chairman of Zydus Lifesciences, was one of the Padma Bhushan awardees. Patel is chairperson of the board of governors at IIM Ahmedabad and the chairman of IIM Udaipur. He serves on the board RBI and heads Gujarat Cancer Society, Gujarat Cancer Research Institute and Zydus Foundation.
