Srinagar, Jan 25: Former Chief Minister of erstwhile J&K and Congress leader, Ghulam Nabi Azad was Tuesday conferred with Padma Bhushan award, while renowned martial art coach from Bandipora, Faisal Ali Dar and Vishwamutri Shastri were named for Padma Shri award respectively.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday announced the list of 128 recipients of the Padma awards – one of the highest civilian awards of the country. Among 128, J&K has bagged two Padma Shri awards and one Padma Bhushan Award.
Meanwhile, the Lt. Governor of J&K, Manoj Sinha while congratulating the awardees took to twitter and wrote, “Heartiest congratulations to Padma Awardees Ghulam Nabi Azad (Padma Bhushan), Vishwamurti Shastri (Padma Shri) and Faisal Ali Dar (Padma Shri), for their valuable contributions in the field of Public Affairs, Literature & Education and Sports.”
According to the press note of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Padma Awards – one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The Awards are given in various disciplines/ fields of activities, viz.- art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc. ‘Padma Vibhushan’ is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; ‘Padma Bhushan’ for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on the occasion
of Republic Day every year.
These awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March/ April every year. This year the President has approved conferment of 128 Padma Awards including 2 duo cases (in a duo case, the Award is counted as one) as per the list below.
The list comprises 4 Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 107 Padma Shri Awards. 34 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 13 Posthumous awardees.