Padma awards conferred on Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mahalanabis, Sudha Murty, Keeravaani

A total of 53 awardees were given the honour – three Padma Vibhushan, five Padma Bhushan and 45 Padma Shri – by President Droupadi Murmu on April 5.

Veteran socialist leader and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Late Mulayam Singh Yadav, and medical professional Dilip Mahalanabis, known globally for his work on Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS), were among those conferred the Padma Vibhushan award by President Droupadi Murmu on April 5.

Author and philanthropist Sudha Murty, physicist Deepak Dhar, who is known for his long-standing research career in statistical physics, novelist S.L. Bhyrappa and Vedic scholar Tridandi Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji were given the Padma Bhushan at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

Yadav, who was also India's Defence Minister and long-time parliamentarian, and Mahalanabis, who returned from the U.S. to serve in the 1971 Bangladesh war refugee camps, were given the honour posthumously.

Yadav's son, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, received the award on his behalf, while Mahalanabis' award was received by his nephew.

Music director M.M. Keeravaani, who bagged India's first Oscar for an original song for the RRR song Naatu Naatu and Bollywood actor Raveena Tandon were among those who received the Padma Shri.

Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J.P. Nadda and several Union ministers and other guests were present at the function.

The President had approved the conferment of 106 Padma awards, including three duo cases (in a duo case, the award is counted as one), on the eve of this year's Republic Day.