Abe, Paswan, Gogoi get P-awards

Former Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is among the seven dignitaries who will be presented the highest Padma Vibhushan award, while former Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan, former Congress Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi of Assam, former Gujarat CM Keshubhai Patel and Shia leader Kalbe Sadiq from Lucknow are the four who have been awarded the Padma Bhushan posthumous; besides, six others have been chosen, including Prime Minister Modi's principal secretary Nripendra Misra, head of the committee for construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, and former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan from Indore.A host of Bollywood personalities would earlier corner the Padma awards, but they are missing from the list announced on Monday night.

Those awarded the Padma Vibhushan include music legend SP Balasubramaniam and Delhi-based 96-year-old Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan.As many as 102 have got the Padma Shri and they include former Goa Governor and writer Mridula Sinha (posthumous), writer Vinayak Vishnu Khedekar of Goa, Namdeo Kamble of Maharashtra, for literature and education, Ghulam Rasool Khan and writer Chamanlal Sapru of Jammu and Kashmir, Lakha Khan of Rajasthan in the category of art, as also Rajasthan's Arjun Singh Shekhawat in literature and Shyam Sundar Paliwal in social work, Gujarati author Dr Chandrakant Mehta, business women Jaswantiben Jamnadas Popat, Girish Prabhune and Ms Sindhutai Sapkal of Maharashtra for social work and Kapil Tiwari of Madhya Pradesh in the literature and education category.