PRESIDENT Droupadi Murmu on Monday conferred the Padma Vibhushan on Bollywood actor Dharmendra posthumously and classical musician and violinist N Rajam at a Civil Investiture Ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here. Dharmendra’s award for exceptional and distinguished service in the field of art was received by his wife and MP Hema Malini. Rajam was honoured for her pioneering contribution to Indian classical music, especially for revolutionising violin performance through the ‘Gayaki Ang’ style that replicates vocal music on the instrument. Murmu conferred the Padma Bhushan on Bhagat Singh Koshyari, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister; Shatavadhani R Ganesh, acclaimed polymath who revived the challenging classical Indian art form ‘Avadhana’; Uday Suresh Kumar Kotak, founder of Kotak Mahindra Bank; and gastroenterologist Kallipatti Ramasamy Palaniswamy. She also conferred the award posthumously on ad guru Piyush Pandey and former parliamentarian Vijay Kumar Malhotra. Pandey’s wife and Malhotra’s son, respectively, received the awards. Indian women’s cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur Bhullar, actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, para athlete Praveen Kumar and former Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Director General K Vijay Kumar received the Padma Shri. As many as eight dignitaries from Maharashtra were conferred with the ‘Padma Awards’, country’s most prestigious civilian honours, for their outstanding contributions in various fields. Among them the most prominent was veteran actor Dharmendra, who was honoured with the ‘Padma Vibhushan’ award posthumously.

 

Kotak Mahindra Bank founder Uday Kotak, who set new standards in Indian banking by building a small bill discounting startup into the country’s leading private bank, was honoured with ‘Padma Bhushan’ for his contributions to corporate governance and economic policy. Piyush Pandey, considered an icon of creativity in the advertising industry, was posthumously awarded the ‘Padma Bhushan’. His wife Neeta Joshi accepted the award. Janardan Bapurao Bothe was honoured with Padma Shri for his social work. He has done remarkable work in the field of water conservation and education in rural Maharashtra. He made a great contribution in solving the water problem of many villages through the ‘Pani Adwa, Paani Jirwa’ campaign. Raghuveer Khedkar was awarded the Padma Shri for the art form of Tamasha folk art. Khedkar, son of senior Tamasha artist Kantabai Satarkar from Sangamner in Ahilyanagar district, has taken Maharashtra’s traditional folk art ‘Tamasha’ to the global stage and has also worked to create social awareness through folk art. Shrirang Lad was awarded the Padma Shri for his work in the field of agriculture. An experimental farmer from Parbhani and a senior activist of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, Lad did a great job in increasing cotton production by developing the ‘Dada Lad Technology’.

 

He has also made special efforts for the conservation of ‘Lal Kandhari’ cows. Nagpur-based entrepreneur Satyanarayan Nuwal has made a significant contribution to the defence sector and mining industry through ‘Solar Industries’. He has played a significant role in making India self-reliant in the field of defence explosives. He was honored with the Padma Shri award for this contribution. Professor Juzar Vasi of the Indian Institute of Technology, who has promoted the country’s scientific progress by doing remarkable work in the field of microelectronics and semiconductor research, was honoured with the Padma Shri Award. Indian women’s cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur Bhullar, actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, para athlete Praveen Kumar and former Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Director General K Vijay Kumar received the Padma Shri.

 

The ceremony, which was held in the Gantantra Mandap of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, began with an instrumental rendition of the national song, “Vande Mataram”, followed by the national anthem, “Jana Gana Mana”. It was attended by Vice President C P Radhakrishnan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, among others. For 2026, the President has approved conferment of 131 Padma Awards -- five Padma Vibhushan, 13 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri. The awards will be conferred at two separate Civil Investiture ceremonies. The Padma Awards are announced on the occasion of the Republic Day every year. The coveted civilian honours are given in various fields, including art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports and civil service.