Padma awards 2026: Dharmendra, Rohit Sharma, Mammootty among 131 named

The Centre on Sunday (January 25) announced the Padma Awards for 2026, approving a total of 131 civilian honours across the Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri categories. The list comprises five Padma Vibhushan, 13 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri awards, and includes names from fields such as public life, arts, cinema, literature, sports and public affairs.

Those selected for the Padma Vibhushan include veteran actor Dharmendra Singh Deol (posthumous), former Kerala chief minister V S Achuthanandan (posthumous), classical violinist N Rajam, former Supreme Court judge K T Thomas, and writer P Narayanan. The category recognises exceptional and distinguished service. Cricketer Rohit Sharma has been awarded the Padma Shri.

The Padma Bhushan list features personalities such as singer Alka Yagnik, actor Mammootty, industrialist Uday Kotak, former Uttarakhand chief minister Bhagat Singh Koshyari, advertising professional Piyush Pandey (posthumous), social leader Vellappally Natesan, and former tennis player Vijay Amritraj, honouring distinguished service of a high order.

19 women awardees in Padma list

The 2026 list includes 19 women awardees, six foreign nationals or persons of Indian origin abroad, and 16 posthumous honours, spanning disciplines including art, public affairs, medicine, literature and education, sports, science and engineering, social work, civil services, and trade and industry.

According to a PTI report, quoting sources, the Padma Awards 2026 winners list features a former bus conductor who set up the world's largest free-access library, a paediatrician who formed Asia's first human milk bank, and a 90-year-old rare musical instrument player, among others.

The report further stated that Anke Gowda from Karnataka will be conferred the Padma Shri 2026 in the unsung heroes category.

54 selected for Padma Shri award

Multiple media reports, quoting sources, stated that the government has finalised the names of 54 individuals for the Padma Shri award. The state-wise distribution of awardees shows West Bengal accounting for six recipients, followed by Tamil Nadu with five. Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have four awardees each.

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Assam, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat feature three recipients apiece. Two Padma Shri awards have been allotted each to individuals from Telangana, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, and Chhattisgarh. The remaining awardees include one individual each from Tripura, Puducherry, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Ladakh, Kerala, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Bihar and Arunachal Pradesh.

What are Padma awards

The Padma Awards rank among the country’s highest civilian honours and are instituted in three categories-Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. While the Padma Vibhushan recognises exceptional and distinguished service, the Padma Bhushan is awarded for distinguished service of a high order, and the Padma Shri honours distinguished service in any field.

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These awards are conferred for contributions across diverse domains, including art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports and civil services. The Padma Awards are formally presented by the President of India at ceremonial events held annually at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

The unsung heroes

Anke Gowda, once a bus conductor, set up the world's largest free-access library, ‘Pustak Mane’, comprising more than two million books in 20 languages, along with rare manuscripts.

The 75-year-old bibliophile from Haralahalli village near Mysuru in Karnataka has been chosen for the Padma Shri for his unique effort to empower learners across India.

Joining him will be Armida Fernandes, the Mumbai-based paediatrician who set up Asia'a first human milk bank, improving the survival prospects of infants, Bundeli war art trainer Bhagwandas Raikwar from Madhya Pradesh, Bhiklya Ladakya Dhinda, a 90-year old tribal Tarpa player – a musical instrument made of bottle gourd and bamboo – from Maharashtra, and distinguished social worker from Jammu and Kashmir, Brij Lal Bhat, among others.

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Continuing with the principle of celebrating ordinary Indians making extraordinary contributions, this year’s Padma awards recognise a wide spectrum of unsung heroes from across the length and breadth of India, reported PTI quoting sources.

From preserving indigenous heritage and promoting national integration in the border states to promoting tribal languages and indigenous martial arts, dying arts and weaves to safeguarding the nation’s ecological wealth and championing ‘swachta’ – this set of awardees truly epitomises everyday Indians silently going about their everyday lives, in service of the country, they said.

List includes education activist, Santhali author

The list also includes Budri Thati, who set up schools in the Naxal-affected areas of Chhattisgarh; Charan Hembram, a Santhali author-composer from Odisha; Chiranji Lal Yadav from Moradabad, an expert in intricate brass engraving work; Dharmiklal Chunilal Pandya, an exponent of ‘Maanbhatt’, a traditional Gujarati performing art form; and Hyderabad geneticist Kumarasamy Thangharaj, who traced human migration from Africa to India.

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Each has overcome tremendous personal hardships and tragedies to not just excel in their chosen fields, but go further on to serve society at large, stated a PTI report quoting sources.

These include individuals from marginalised and Dalit communities, primitive tribes and those from remote and difficult terrains, they said.

These are people who have dedicated their entire lifetimes in service of the disabled, women, children, Dalits and tribals – working to promote healthcare, education, livelihood, sanitation, sustainability, etc.

Puducherry’s K Pajanivel gets Padma Shri

Puducherry’s K Pajanivel has been awarded the Padma Shri for nurturing Silambam, an ancient Tamil weapon-based martial art, while senior journalist Kailash Chandra Pant, who has been working for over 60 years to propagate Hindi across India, has been awarded in the literature and education category.

Khem Raj Sundriyal from Haryana has been chosen for preserving and teaching the tapestry and Jamdani weaving technique to thousands of artisans from Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

Sundriyal also revived the Panipat ‘khes’ with new designs and introduced polyester yarn in handlooms.

(With agency inputs)