President Ram Nath Kovind conferred Padma Awards to 47 prominent and inspiring personalities, including nine from sports. Some of the personalities who received the honour on Saturday were cricketer Gautam Gambhir, Mahashay Dharampal Gulati, football captain Sunil Chhetri, basketball player Prashanti Singh, archer Bombayla Devi Laishram, grandmaster Harika Dronavalli.
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This year, there were twenty-one women and the list also includes eleven persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI, three Posthumous awardees and one transgender person.
In January, President Kovind had approved the conferment of the prestigious award for 2019. The awards are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri and are given in various disciplines. They are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year to recognise and appreciate the diversity of the country
This year’s list comprised four Padma Vibhushan, fourteen Padma Bhushan and ninety-four Padma Shri Awards.