Excitement peaked in New Delhi on Sunday as Padma Awards 2024 were declared, honoring 131 exceptional individuals ahead of Republic Day. The breakdown—5 Padma Vibhushan, 13 Bhushan, 113 Shri—spotlights a mosaic of talent in arts, sciences, sports, medicine, and public service from India’s heartlands to global stages.
Padma Vibhushan honorees set the tone: Bollywood’s Dharmendra (posthumous, arts-Maharashtra), public servant KT Thomas (Kerala), artistic virtuoso N Rajam (UP), literary figure P Narayanan (Kerala), veteran politician VS Achyutanandan (posthumous, Kerala).
Padma Bhushan stars: Singer Alka Yagnik (arts-Maharashtra), statesman Bhagat Singh Koshyari (public affairs-Uttarakhand), healer Kallipatti Palaniswami (medicine-TN), actor Mammootty (arts-Kerala), physician Nori Dattatreudu (USA-medicine), copywriter Piyush Pandey (posthumous, arts-Maharashtra), activist SKM Mailanandan (social work-TN), memory maestro Shatavadhani Ganesh (arts-Karnataka), leader Shibu Soren (posthumous, public affairs-Jharkhand), financier Uday Kotak (trade-Maharashtra), sports administrator VK Malhotra (posthumous, Delhi), reformer Vellapalli Natesan (Kerala), champion Vijay Amritraj (sports-USA).
The Padma Shri roll call is epic: Innovators AE Muthunayagam (science-Kerala), Ashok Vaidya (arts-Gujarat); changemakers Brij Lal Bhat (social work-J&K), Kollakal Devaki Amma Ji (Kerala); sports icons Baldev Singh (Punjab), K Pajanivel (Puducherry), Harmanpreet Kaur Bhullar (Punjab); medics Padma Gurmet (Ladakh), Palakonda Vijay Anand Reddy (Telangana). Standouts: Folk artist Bhiklya Dhinda (Maharashtra), archaeologist Buddha Rashmi Mani (UP), twins Gayatri-Ranjani (TN-arts), couple Ramchandra-Sunita Godbole (Chhattisgarh-medicine).
From Odisha’s Charan Hembram (literature) to Telangana’s Krishnamurti Balasubramaniam (science), Mizoram’s reach via diverse picks. Foreign awardees like Shafi Shauq (J&K-literature, but prof in Germany context), Vladimir Mestvirishvili (Georgia-sports posthumous) enrich the narrative.
These accolades, rooted in India’s constitutional values, blend celebrity sparkle—Prosenjit Chatterjee (WB-arts), Satyanarayan Nuval (Maharashtra-trade)—with quiet revolutions by figures like Mohan Nagar (MP-social work), Swami Brahmdev Ji Maharaj (Rajasthan-social work).
As medals gleam at the presidential palace, Padma 2024 inspires a billion dreams, proving excellence knows no bounds.