Former Central Ministers Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and George Fernandes, have been posthumously awarded Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian honour, the Ministry of Home Affairs announced on Saturday.
This year's Padma Awards' list includes 7 Padma Vibhushan, 16 Padma Bhushanand 118 Padma Shri Awards (fourth highest civilian honour) and 34 of theawardees are women.
Former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has been honoured with Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award.
Olympic medal winner boxer MC Mary Kom has been given Padma Vibhushan.Another Olympic medal winner, badminton star PV Sindhu, has been conferred withPadma Bhushan.
Renowned classical singer from Varanasi, Chhannulal Mishra is among thePadma Vibhushan awardees; whereas playback singer Suresh Wadkar has beenawarded the fourth highest civilian honour.
Bollywood personalities – Karan Johar, Ekta Kapoor and Kangana Ranaut – areamong the Padma Shri awardees.
18 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI have also been awarded. Mauritius Prime Minister Anerood Gugnauth has got the second-highest civilian honour.
Industrialists Anand Mahindra and Venu Shrinivasan, former Nagaland Chief Minister SC Jamir and Jammu and Kashmir politician Muzaffar Hussain Baig have been awarded the Padma Bhushan.
'Padma Vibhushan' is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; 'Padma Bhushan' for distinguished service of a high order and 'Padma Shri' for distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.