Bhubaneswar: Five eminent personalities from Odisha were conferred with the Padma Awards 2022 at a ceremony in the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday. This was the first phase of felicitating the Padma Awardees for 2022.
Srimad Baba Balia was awarded Padma Shri in Social Work category. The Social and Spiritial Leader has been working with Odisha’s poor & backward communities.
Shyamamani Devi received the award in Arts category. She is a renowned Odia singer with thousands of her songs influencing generations, a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique read.
Narasingha Prasad Guru of Bolangir, received the prestigious award in Literature and Education category. The Koshali author, lyricist has been promoting the language for over five decades.
President Kovind presented Padma Shri to Prof Aditya Prasad Dash in Science & Engineering category. He is a distinguished biologist specializing in vector-borne tropical diseases like Dengue, Malaria.
Dr Guruprasad Mohapatra was conferred with Padma Shri 2022 in Civil Service category. The Senior IAS Officer carried out his assigned charge of ensuring oxygen availability during COVID, even from his hospital bed. Mohapatra’s wife Anjali Mohapatra received the award on behalf of the Late Odia IAS officer.
Among the awardees at today’s event are Padma Vibhushan recipients — Radhey Shyam, former president of Gita Press, and General Bipin Rawat (both in the posthumous category). Rawat died in a tragic chopper crash last year along with his wife and 11 others.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, Gurmeet Bawa (Posthumous), N. Chandrasekharan, Devendra Jhajharia, musician Rashid Khan, former Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, chairman of Serum Institute of India Cyrus Poonawalla and Sachchidanand Swami received the Padma Bhushan awards. The Civil Investiture Ceremony–II is scheduled to be held on March 28.
At today’s ceremony, the President conferred two Padma Vibhushan, eight Padma Bhushan and 54 Padma Shri awards.
The announcement for this year’s Padma awards was made by the Union Home Ministry in January this year. A total of 17 personalities were conferred with the Padma Bhushan.
Tech giants Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, and Sundar Pichai, Chief Executive Officer of Alphabet, are also on the list, and have been awarded under the category ‘trade and industry’.
A total of 107 eminent personalities were honoured with Padma Shri, including Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra and singer Sonu Nigam.
Padma awards are one of the highest civilian recognitions of the country. The awards are given in several disciplines such as art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, and civil service, among others.
In this year’s Padma list, there are 128 awards, comprising four Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 107 Padma Shri recipients. As many as 34 recipients are women and 13 posthumous awardees.
