Every year, as the Republic Day celebrations approach, the nation turns its attention to the Padma Awards 2026 — one of the most respected civilian honors in India. Announced on January 25, 2026, this year’s list stands out for its beautiful blend of legendary names and quiet, everyday changemakers who rarely make headlines.
With a total of 131 awards, the Padma Awards 2026 once again prove that excellence comes in many forms — from the cricket field and recording studios to remote villages and hospital corridors.
Understanding the Significance of Padma Awards
The Padma Awards were first introduced in 1954 to recognize distinguished service in various fields. They are given in three categories:
- Padma Vibhushan: The highest honor for exceptional and distinguished service.
- Padma Bhushan: For distinguished service of a high order.
- Padma Shri: For distinguished service in any field of activity.
What makes the Padma Awards 2026 special is the conscious effort to honor both celebrated icons and unsung heroes working at the grassroots level.
Key Highlights of Padma Awards 2026
- Total Awards: 131
- Padma Vibhushan: 5
- Padma Bhushan: 13
- Padma Shri: 113
- Women recipients: 19
- Posthumous awards: 16
- Recipients from foreign/NRI/PIO category: 6
The first investiture ceremony was held in May 2026 at Rashtrapati Bhavan, where proud awardees received their honors from the President.
Padma Vibhushan Awardees 2026
This year’s highest honors went to:
- Dharmendra Singh Deol (Art, Maharashtra) – Posthumous
- K. T. Thomas (Public Affairs, Kerala)
- N. Rajam (Art, Uttar Pradesh)
- P. Narayanan (Literature & Education, Kerala)
- V. S. Achuthanandan (Public Affairs, Kerala) – Posthumous
Notable Padma Bhushan Recipients
Several well-known personalities received the Padma Bhushan this year, including:
- Legendary playback singer Alka Yagnik
- Malayalam cinema icon Mammootty
- Tennis legend Vijay Amritraj (USA)
- Banker Uday Kotak
- Former Jharkhand leader Shibu Soren (Posthumous)
Complete List of Padma Shri Awardees 2026
Here is the full table of Padma Shri Awardees 2026:
| SN | Name | Field | State / Country |
| 1 | Shri A E Muthunayagam | Science and Engineering | Kerala |
| 2 | Shri Anil Kumar Rastogi | Art | Uttar Pradesh |
| 3 | Shri Anke Gowda M. | Social Work | Karnataka |
| 4 | Ms. Armida Fernandez | Medicine | Maharashtra |
| 5 | Shri Arvind Vaidya | Art | Gujarat |
| 6 | Shri Ashok Khade | Trade and Industry | Maharashtra |
| 7 | Shri Ashok Kumar Singh | Science and Engineering | Uttar Pradesh |
| 8 | Shri Asok Kumar Haldar | Literature and Education | West Bengal |
| 9 | Shri Baldev Singh | Sports | Punjab |
| 10 | Shri Bhagwandas Raikwar | Sports | Madhya Pradesh |
| 11 | Shri Bharat Singh Bharti | Art | Bihar |
| 12 | Shri Bhiklya Ladakya Dhinda | Art | Maharashtra |
| 13 | Shri Bishwa Bandhu (Posthumous) | Art | Bihar |
| 14 | Shri Brij Lal Bhat | Social Work | Jammu and Kashmir |
| 15 | Shri Buddha Rashmi Mani | Archaeology | Uttar Pradesh |
| 16 | Dr. Budhri Tati | Social Work | Chhattisgarh |
| 17 | Shri Chandramouli Gaddamanugu | Science and Engineering | Telangana |
| 18 | Shri Charan Hembram | Literature and Education | Odisha |
| 19 | Shri Chiranji Lal Yadav | Art | Uttar Pradesh |
| 20 | Ms. Deepika Reddy | Art | Telangana |
| 21 | Shri Dharmiklal Chunilal Pandya | Art | Gujarat |
| 22 | Shri Gadde Babu Rajendra Prasad | Art | Andhra Pradesh |
| 23 | Shri Gafruddin Mewati Jogi | Art | Rajasthan |
| 24 | Shri Gambir Singh Yonzone | Literature and Education | West Bengal |
| 25 | Shri Garimella Balakrishna Prasad (Posthumous) | Art | Andhra Pradesh |
| 26 | Ms. Gayatri & Ranjani Balasubramanian (Duo) | Art | Tamil Nadu |
| 27 | Shri Gopal Ji Trivedi | Science and Engineering | Bihar |
| 28 | Shri Guduru Venkat Rao | Medicine | Telangana |
| 29 | Shri H V Hande | Medicine | Tamil Nadu |
| 30 | Shri Hally War | Social Work | Meghalaya |
| 31 | Shri Hari Madhab Mukhopadhyay (Posthumous) | Art | West Bengal |
| 32 | Shri Haricharan Saikia | Art | Assam |
| 33 | Ms. Harmanpreet Kaur Bhullar | Sports | Punjab |
| 34 | Shri Inderjit Singh Sidhu | Social Work | Chandigarh |
| 35 | Shri Janardan Bapurao Bothe | Social Work | Maharashtra |
| 36 | Shri Jogesh Deuri | Agriculture | Assam |
| 37 | Shri Juzer Vasi | Science and Engineering | Maharashtra |
| 38 | Shri Jyotish Debnath | Art | West Bengal |
| 39 | Shri K Pajanivel | Sports | Puducherry |
| 40 | Shri K Ramasamy | Science and Engineering | Tamil Nadu |
| 41 | Shri K Vijay Kumar | Civil Service | Tamil Nadu |
| 42 | Shri Kabindra Purkayastha (Posthumous) | Public Affairs | Assam |
| 43 | Shri Kailash Chandra Pant | Literature and Education | Madhya Pradesh |
| 44 | Ms. Kalamandalam Vimala Menon | Art | Kerala |
| 45 | Shri Kewal Krishan Thakral | Medicine | Uttar Pradesh |
| 46 | Shri Khem Raj Sundriyal | Art | Haryana |
| 47 | Ms. Kollakal Devaki Amma G | Social Work | Kerala |
| 48 | Shri Krishnamurty Balasubramanian | Science and Engineering | Telangana |
| 49 | Shri Kumar Bose | Art | West Bengal |
| 50 | Shri Kumarasamy Thangaraj | Science and Engineering | Telangana |
| 51 | Prof. Lars-Christian Koch | Art | Germany |
| 52 | Ms. Liudmila Viktorovna Khokhlova | Literature and Education | Russia |
| 53 | Shri Madhavan Ranganathan | Art | Maharashtra |
| 54 | Shri Maganti Murali Mohan | Art | Andhra Pradesh |
| 55 | Shri Mahendra Kumar Mishra | Literature and Education | Odisha |
| 56 | Shri Mahendra Nath Roy | Literature and Education | West Bengal |
| 57 | Shri Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar | Literature and Education | Delhi |
| 58 | Ms. Mangala Kapoor | Literature and Education | Uttar Pradesh |
| 59 | Shri Mir Hajibhai Kasambhai | Art | Gujarat |
| 60 | Shri Mohan Nagar | Social Work | Madhya Pradesh |
| 61 | Shri Narayan Vyas | Archaeology | Madhya Pradesh |
| 62 | Shri Naresh Chandra Dev Varma | Literature and Education | Tripura |
| 63 | Shri Nilesh Vinodchandra Mandlewala | Social Work | Gujarat |
| 64 | Shri Nuruddin Ahmed | Art | Assam |
| 65 | Shri Othuvaar Thiruthani Swaminathan | Art | Tamil Nadu |
| 66 | Dr. Padma Gurmet | Medicine | Ladakh |
| 67 | Shri Palkonda Vijay Anand Reddy | Medicine | Telangana |
| 68 | Ms. Pokhila Lekthepi | Art | Assam |
| 69 | Dr. Prabhakar Basavprabhu Kore | Literature and Education | Karnataka |
| 70 | Shri Prateek Sharma | Medicine | United States |
| 71 | Shri Praveen Kumar | Sports | Uttar Pradesh |
| 72 | Shri Prem Lal Gautam | Science and Engineering | Himachal Pradesh |
| 73 | Shri Prosenjit Chatterjee | Art | West Bengal |
| 74 | Dr. Punniamurthy Natesan | Medicine | Tamil Nadu |
| 75 | Shri R Krishnan (Posthumous) | Art | Tamil Nadu |
| 76 | Shri R V S Mani | Civil Service | Delhi |
| 77 | Shri Rabilal Tudu | Literature and Education | West Bengal |
| 78 | Shri Raghupat Singh (Posthumous) | Agriculture | Uttar Pradesh |
| 79 | Shri Raghuveer Tukaram Khedkar | Art | Maharashtra |
| 80 | Shri Rajastapathi Kaliappa Goundar | Art | Tamil Nadu |
| 81 | Shri Rajendra Prasad | Medicine | Uttar Pradesh |
| 82 | Shri Rama Reddy Mamidi (Posthumous) | Animal Husbandry | Telangana |
| 83 | Shri Ramamurthy Sreedher | Radio Broadcasting | Delhi |
| 84 | Shri Ramchandra & Suneeta Godbole (Duo) | Medicine | Chhattisgarh |
| 85 | Shri Ratilal Borisagar | Literature and Education | Gujarat |
| 86 | Shri Rohit Sharma | Sports | Maharashtra |
| 87 | Ms. S G Susheelamma | Social Work | Karnataka |
| 88 | Shri Sangyusang S Pongener | Art | Nagaland |
| 89 | Sant Niranjan Dass | Spiritualism | Punjab |
| 90 | Shri Sarat Kumar Patra | Art | Odisha |
| 91 | Shri Saroj Mandal | Medicine | West Bengal |
| 92 | Shri Satish Shah (Posthumous) | Art | Maharashtra |
| 93 | Shri Satyanarayan Nuwal | Trade and Industry | Maharashtra |
| 94 | Ms. Savita Punia | Sports | Haryana |
| 95 | Prof. Shafi Shauq | Literature and Education | Jammu and Kashmir |
| 96 | Shri Shashi Shekhar Vempati | Literature and Education | Karnataka |
| 97 | Shri Shrirang Devaba Lad | Agriculture | Maharashtra |
| 98 | Ms. Shubha Venkatesha Iyengar | Science and Engineering | Karnataka |
| 99 | Shri Shyam Sundar | Medicine | Uttar Pradesh |
| 100 | Shri Simanchal Patro | Art | Odisha |
| 101 | Ms. Sivasankari | Literature and Education | Tamil Nadu |
| 102 | Dr. Suresh Hanagavadi | Medicine | Karnataka |
| 103 | Swami Brahmdev Ji Maharaj | Social Work | Rajasthan |
| 104 | Shri T T Jagannathan (Posthumous) | Trade and Industry | Karnataka |
| 105 | Shri Taga Ram Bheel | Art | Rajasthan |
| 106 | Shri Tarun Bhattacharya | Art | West Bengal |
| 107 | Shri Techi Gubin | Social Work | Arunachal Pradesh |
| 108 | Shri Thiruvaarur Bakthavathsalam | Art | Tamil Nadu |
| 109 | Ms. Tripti Mukherjee | Art | West Bengal |
| 110 | Shri Veezhinathan Kamakoti | Science and Engineering | Tamil Nadu |
| 111 | Shri Vempaty Kutumba Sastry | Literature and Education | Andhra Pradesh |
| 112 | Shri Vladimer Mestvirishvili (Posthumous) | Sports | Georgia |
| 113 | Shri Yumnam Jatra Singh (Posthumous) | Art | Manipur |
The Real Spirit Behind Padma Awards 2026
While glamorous names always draw attention, the true power of the Padma Awards 2026 lies in recognizing people like Dr. Budhri Tati, Anke Gowda, and Techi Gubin — individuals who have worked silently for decades in challenging environments.
These awards send a powerful message: every region, every profession, and every kind of contribution matters in building a stronger India.
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The Padma Awards 2026 reflect the diversity, resilience, and talent pool of our nation. From cinema and sports to science, literature, and social service, this year’s list feels more inclusive than ever.
As Indians, we should take pride not just in the big names but also in the countless unsung heroes who received recognition this year.
Congratulations to every single awardee of Padma Awards 2026! Your dedication continues to inspire millions.
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