Padma Awards 2026: Honoring India’s 131 Stories of Extraordinary Revolutionaries
Supriya Pundir A complete list of Padma awards 2026 were officially announced recently. Padma Awards, instituted in 1954, are one of the highest civilian honors of India. They are categorized in three further awards: Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan. This time 131 distinguished personalities were selected from various fields of area and were recognized for excellence in their own field and their service to our nation. Usually awardees are selected from a wide range of fields, like art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, and civil service.
Padma Awardees 2026 included five Padma Vibhushan, 13 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri. Out of these, 19 are women and 16 honours are being awarded posthumously to honor their utmost service for nation and excellence.
Over the past years, many Bollywood icons like Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, and Kangana Ranaut have been awarded the prestigious award. Some notable figures that were included in Padma awards 2026 are Dharmendra Singh Deol, Mammootty, Alka Yagnik, Rohit Sharma, and Uday Kotak.
Padma Vibhushan Winners 2026
Padma Bhushan Winners 2026
Playback singer Alka Yagnik, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Tamil Nadu’s Kallipatti Ramasamy Palaniswamy, and Kerala’s Malayalam actor Mammootty are among the recipients of the Padma Bhushan award.
Other recipients include Nori Dattatreyudu, Vijay Amritraj, S.K.M. Maeilanandhan from Tamil Nadu, Shatavadhani R. Ganesh, banker Uday Kotak and Vellappally Natesan. Piyush Pandey, V.K. Malhotra and Shibu Soren have been awarded the Padma Bhushan posthumously.
Padma Shri Winners 2026
The fourth-highest civilian award, the Padma Shri, given to 113 people in recognition of their outstanding work comes from a variety of fields, including the arts, social work, public affairs, medicine, agriculture, literature, education, and sports.
Notable recipients of the 2026 Padma Shri Awards include star Indian batsman Rohit Sharma, captain Harmanpreet Kaur of the Indian women’s cricket team, Baldev Singh, K Pajanivel, and Savita Punia for their contributions to the field of Sports.
State-wise Padma Shri Awards 2026:
The list of Padma Shri awardees includes:
- Six individuals from West Bengal, followed by Tamil Nadu with five.
- Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have four awardees each.
- Assam, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat account for three recipients each.
- Two Padma Shri awards each conferred on individuals from Telangana, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, and Chhattisgarh.
- Meanwhile, Tripura, Puducherry, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Ladakh, Kerala, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Bihar and Arunachal Pradesh have one awardee each.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Established in 1954 to honor outstanding service in a variety of public service and human endeavors, the Padma Awards are India’s top civilian honors.
As stated by the Supreme Court (SC), national honors, such as Padma Shri, Bharat Ratna, and Padma Vibhushan, are not recognized as titles under Article 18(1); these distinctions cannot be inherited by individuals; rather, they are state awards for outstanding work and merit.
It is headed by the Padma Award Committee, appointed by the Prime Minister every year. The Committee’s members include the Secretary of the Interior, the President’s Secretary, and four–six prominent individuals. The recommendations were submitted to the Prime Minister and the President of India for final approval.
Based on the Committee’s recommendations, the award is officially conferred by the President of India on the eve of the Republic Day in March or April each year, and the recipients receive a Sanad (certificate), medals and replicas.
Based on the Committee’s recommendations, the award is officially conferred by the President of India on the eve of the Republic Day in March or April each year, and the recipients receive a Sanad (certificate), medals and replicas.
There are three main categories: Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri
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