Padma Awards 2018 were announced on 25th January 2018. Padma Awards are one of the highest civilian awards of the country.
- These awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March/ April every year.
- The Awards were instituted in 1954 to recognize people from various disciplines/fields of activities such as 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 whereas ‘Padma Bhushan’ is awarded for distinguished service of high order.
- ‘Padma Shri’ is awarded for distinguished service in any field.
- The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.
- This year the President of India Mr. Ram Nath Kovind has approved conferment of 85 Padma Awards including two duo cases. This includes 3 Padma Vibhushan, 9 Padma Bhushan and 73 Padma Shri Awards. 14 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 16 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 3 posthumous awardees.
Complete List of Awards
Padma Vibhushan
- This award is the second highest civilian award given in India after the Bharat Ratna. It is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service. The criteria for this award includes service in any field including service rendered by government servants (including doctors, scientists and excluding those working with public sector undertakings.
List of the awardees
| S. No. |
Name |
Field |
State |
| 1. |
Shri Illaiyaraja |
Art-Music |
Tamil Nadu |
| 2. |
Shri Ghulam Mustafa Khan |
Art-Music |
Maharashtra |
| 3. |
Shri Parameswaran Parameswaran |
Literature and Education |
Kerala |
Padma Bhushan
- This award is the third highest civilian award given in India after the Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhushan. It is awarded for distinguished service of higher order. The criteria for this award includes service in any field including service rendered by government servants (including doctors, scientists and excluding those working with public sector undertakings.
List of the awardees
| S. No. |
Name |
Field |
State |
| 1. |
Shri Pankaj Advani |
Sports- Billiards/Snooker |
Karnataka |
| 2. |
Shri Philipose Mar Chrysostom |
Others-Spiritualism |
Kerala |
| 3. |
Shri Mahendra Singh Dhoni |
Sports-Cricket |
Jharkhand |
| 4. |
Shri Alexander Kadakin (Foreigner/Posthumous) |
Public Affairs |
Russia |
| 5. |
Shri Ramachandran Nagaswamy |
Others-Archaeology |
Tamil Nadu |
| 6. |
Shri Ved Prakash Nanda (OCI) |
Literature and Education |
USA |
| 7. |
Shri Laxman Pai |
Art-Painting |
Goa |
| 8. |
Shri Arvind Parikh |
Art-Music |
Maharashtra |
| 9. |
Ms Sharda Sinha |
Art-Music |
Bihar |
Padma Shri
- This award is the fourth highest civilian award given in India after the Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan. It is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service. The criteria for this award includes service in any field including service rendered by government servants (including doctors, scientists and excluding those working with public sector undertakings. It has also been awarded to some distinguished individuals who were not citizens of India but did contribute in various ways to India.
- Padma Shri 2018 has been awarded to 73 people.
