The President of India Droupadi Murmu presented three Padma Vibhushan, eight Padma Bhushan and 55 Padma Shri Awards for the year 2024 at the Civil Investiture Ceremony-I held with grandeur in Darbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Monday.
Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah besides many other Union ministers and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.
President Murmu honored Venkaiah Naidu with Padma Vibhushan. Apart from this, Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh International, was posthumously awarded Padma Vibhushan which was received by his wife Amol.
Also, actor Mithun Chakraborty, former Governor Ram Naik, singer Usha Uthup and industrialist Sitaram Jindal were awarded Padma Bhushan. Nearly half the recipients were presented with awards on Monday. The remaining awards are likely to be given next week.
Further, Gujarat cardiologist Tejas Madhusudan Patel, veteran Marathi film director Dattatreya Ambadas Mayalu alias Rajdutt and eminent physician Chandeshwar Prasad Thakur, globally renowned for his contributions in research on Kala-azar was awarded the Padma Bhushan.
Padma Shri awardees include carpet weaver Khalil Ahmed from Uttar Pradesh, folk singer Kaluram Bamnia from Madhya Pradesh, Bangladeshi singer Rezwana Choudhary Banya and chikankari embroidery artist Naseem Bano from Uttar Pradesh.
Padma Shri award was also given to Rajbongshi folk singer Geeta Roy Burman from Cooch Behar in West Bengal, tennis player Rohan Bopanna, spiritual personality Chitta Ranjan Debbarma from Tripura, banker Kalpana Morparia, philanthropist Kiran Nadar, social activist Gurvinder Singh from Haryana and folk singer Urmila Srivastava from Uttar Pradesh.
After the Investiture Ceremony, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other Union ministers interacted with the Padma Awardees at a dinner hosted by the Home minister at his residence in New Delhi.
The Padma Awardees will pay homage at the National War Memorial on April 23 morning besides would also visit Rashtrapati Bhawan and Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya, revealed official reports.
