Padma Vibhushan for Dharmendra

Veteran actor Dharmendra and Left stalwart and former Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan have been awarded the Padma Vibhushan posthumously on the occasion of the Republic Day 2026, while late JMM founder and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren, singer Alka Yagnik, tennis maestro Vijay Amritraj, and Malayalam superstar Mammottty are among the recipients of the Padma Bhushan.

President Droupadi Murmu has approved the conferment of 131 Padma Awards, including 2 duo cases (where the Award is counted as one), an official statement said.

As per the list, announced on the eve of the Republic Day, there are 5 Padma Vibhushans, 13 Padma Bhushans and 113 Padma Shri Awards.

As many as 19 of the awardees are women, while the list also includes six foreigners/NRI/PIO/ OCI recipients. Sixteen awards are posthumous.

The other awardees of the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest national award, are K.T. Thomas (Public Affairs), classical violinist N Rajam (Art), and P. Narayanan (Literature and Education).

The Padma Bhushan awardees include former Uttarakhand Chief Minister and Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. US-based Dr Nori Dattatreyudu, late advertising maestro Piyush Pandey, businessman Uday Kotak, veteran BJP leader and former MP V.K. Malhotra, and influential Kerala community leader and SNDP Yogam supremo Vellappally Natesan.

Among the recipients of the Padma Shri are India women's cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur Bhullar, former Indian men's cricket team captain Rohit Sharma, former UGC Chairman JNU Vice Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, veteran actor Satish Shah (posthumous), women's hockey player Savita Punia, Tollywood legend Prosenjit Chatterjee, among others.

The Padma Awards are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The Awards are given in various disciplines/fields of activities, viz., art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc. ‘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.