Pawar, M M Joshi, Sangma conferred Padma Vibhushan

NEW DELHI: Senior politicians Sharad Pawar, Murli Manohar Joshi and the late P A Sangma are among the seven recipients of the Padma Vibhushan award — India’s second-highest civilian honour — announced on Wednesday.

President Pranab Mukherjee has named 89 people for the country’s top civilian awards, including seven Padma Bhushan and 75 Padma Shri awards, on the occasion of country’s 68th Republic Day. The awardees include 19 women and five NRIs/ PIOs (Persons of Indian Origin), while six of the awards are being given posthumously.

Besides Pawar, Joshi and Sangma, K J Yesudas (for ArtMusic), Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev (Spiritualism), Professor Udipi Ramachandra Rao (Science and Engineering) and late Sunder Lal Patwa have been named for Padma Vibhushan awards.

Recipients of Padma Bhushan awards include Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (Art-Music), Professor Devi Prasad Dwivedi (Literature and Education), Tehemton Udwadia (Medicine), Ratna Sundar Maharaj (Spiritualism), Swami Niranjana Nanda Saraswati (Yoga), Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn (Literature and Education) of Thailand and late Cho Ramaswamy (LiteratureEducation-Journalism).

Out of 75 Padma Shri awardees, singer Kailash Kher and Anuradha Paudwal, cricketer Virat Kohli, gymnast Dipa Karmakar, wrestler Sakshi Malik, paralympic athlete Deepa Malik and well-known chef Sanjeev Kapoor are the prominent personalities who have been honoured.