Padma Vibhushan for Arun Jaitely, Sushma Swaraj, Mary Kom

New Delhi, Jan 25 (IANS) Former Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and George Fenandes will be conferred Padma Vibhushan posthumously. Renowned boxer Mary Kom will also be the recipient of the award, the second highest civilian honour of the country.
The Padma awards, one of the highest civilian awards of the country, are conferred in three categories — Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.
The awards are given in various disciplines/fields of activities such as art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports and civil service.
The Padma Vibhushan is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service. The awards are announced on Republic Day every year.
The award has been conferred on the former politicians in the field of public affairs. The seven are George Fernandes, Arun Jaitley, Anerood Jugnauth GCSK, M.C. Mary Kom, Chhannulal Mishra, Sushma Swaraj and Sri Vishveshateertha Swamiji Sri Pejavara Adhokhaja Matha Udupi.
Former Union Minister and BJP leader Arun Jaitley passed away last year at the age of 66 years on August 24. He is remembered as one of the main strategists for the party and as Finance Minister.
During Jaitley’s supervision, the Modi government merged the Railway Budget with the General Budget. From May 2014 to May, 2019, he was the Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs. He was a Minister of Defence in 2014 and 2017 and Minister of Information and Broadcasting from 2014 to 2016.
Former Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj was one of the firebrand leaders of the BJP. A former supreme court lawyer, Swaraj served as the Minister of External Affairs from May 2014 to May 2019. She had been elected seven times as Member of Parliament and three times as a Member of the Legislative Assembly. She served as MP of Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh.
Renowned boxer Mary Kom is an Olympic boxer from Manipur. Born on March 1, 1983, she is also known as Magnificent Mary. She is famous for being five-time World Boxing Champion and the only boxer to win a medal in every one of the six world championships.
In the 2012 Olympics, she became the first Indian woman boxer to qualify and win a bronze medal in the 51kg flyweight category of boxing. She is currently ranked number 4 in the Flyweight category of AIBA World Women’s Ranking.
The award will be posthumously given to renowned sage Sri Vishveshateertha Swami Ji who worked for the welfare of the society. He represented and nurtured India’s long tradition of saints and seers, who acted as the guiding light of society.
He was among the first spiritual leaders in modern India to consider dalits as an integral part of Hindu society.
Mauritian politician Anerood Jugnauth has also been named for Padma Vibhushan in the field of public affairs. Jugnauth, who served as the President and the Prime Minister of Mauritius, was a central figure in the Mauritian politics in the 1980s and 1990s.
Former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, leading industrialists Anand Mahindra and Venu Srinivasan along with 13 others have been selected for the Padma Bhushan awards, government said on Saturday.
According to a government release, Parrikar, who was also the Goa Chief Minister, has been selected for the Padma Bhushan awards posthumously this year.
Parrikar, who was four-time Goa Chief Minister, passed away on March 18 last year after a long battle with cancer.
Mahindra & Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra and TVS group Chairman Srinivasan are also on the list of the country’s third highest civilian award.
Prof Jagdish Sheth, a USA based renowned scholar and internationally recognized thought leader, who is known best for his scholarly contributions in consumer psychology, relationship marketing, competitive strategy, and geopolitical analysis is on the list of the Padma Bhushan awardees this year.
Shuttler P.V. Sindhu is the only player to get the Padma Bhushan Award this year.
Name of former Nagaland Chief Minister S.C. Jamir also featured on the list of the Padma Bhushan awardees this year.
Jamir, who served as the Governor of Odisha, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa, was one of the signatories of the 16-Point Agreement which brought about the creation of Nagaland state. Jamir is considered one of the architects of modern Nagaland.
Besides Jamir, the list also included the names of former Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Syed Muzaffar Hussain Baig, a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader and Ladakh-based gynecologist Tsering Landol.
Landol, who was conferred with the Padma Shri in 2006, is an Indian gynecologist and one of the pioneers of women’s health in Ladakh region. She was the first woman doctor from Ladakh to receive the Padma Shri award in 2006.
Spiritual teacher Sri M. Mumtaz Ali, Ajoy Chakravorty (Art), Manoj Das (Literature and Education), Balkrishna Doshi (architecture), social workers Krishnammal Jagannathan and Anil Prakash Joshi also figure on the list of Padma Bhushan awardees.
Twelve foreigners have been named for Padma Shri. It included late Indra Dassanayake, a well-known Hindi literary personality who taught Hindi at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. Dassanayake strived for emergence of Hindi as a world language.
Another awardee is Barry Strachan Gardiner, British Labour Party leader who has served as Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade since 2016.
Another notable foreign personality in the list is late Tetsu Nakamura for his social work in Afghanistan. A Japanese physician and honorary Afghan, Nakamura headed the Peace Japan Medical Services (PMS). Devoted to the Kunar river canal projects in eastern Afghanistan, he was credited for transforming the desert of Gamberi, on the outskirts of Jalalabad, into a lush forest and wheat farmlands. He also helped build two hospitals and two mosques.
The Padma Awards are given in three categories — Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri — in various fields of activities like art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service.
Padma Vibhushan is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service, Padma Bhushan for distinguished service of high order and Padma Shri for distinguished service in any field.

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