The Padma Awards are one of the highest civilian awards given to honour the people in their respective fields. The Padma Vibhushan is for exceptional and distinguished service, the Padma Bhushan is given to for distinguished service of higher-order whereas the Padma Shri is given for distinguished service. All persons without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex are eligible for these awards. However, Government servants including those working with PSUs, except doctors and scientists, are not eligible for these awards. The award seeks to recognize achievements in all fields of activities or disciplines where an element of public service is involved. The Padma Awards are conferred on the recommendations made by the Padma Awards Committee, which is constituted by the Prime Minister every year. The nomination process is open to the public. Even self-nomination can be made.
President Ram Nath Kovind on 8th November 2021 conferred Padma Awards at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. The 2021 list of Padma Awards includes seven Padma Vibhushan, 10 Padma Bhushan, and 102 Padma Shri Awards, of which 29 awardees are women, 16 Posthumous awardees, and 1 transgender awardee. The list of Awardees are as follows:
Padma Vibhushan
- Shri Shinzo Abe – Public Affairs – Japan
- Shri S P Balasubramaniam (Posthumous) – Art – Tamil Nadu
- Dr. Belle Monappa Hegde – Medicine – Karnataka
- Shri Narinder Singh Kapany (Posthumous) – Science and Engineering – United States of America
- Maulana Wahiduddin Khan – Others – Spiritualism – Delhi
- Shri B. B. Lal Others – Archaeology – Delhi
- Shri Sudarshan Sahoo – Art – Odisha
Padma Bhushan
- Ms. Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra – Art – Kerala
- Shri Tarun Gogoi (Posthumous) – Public Affairs – Assam
- Shri Chandrashekhar Kambara – Literature and Education – Karnataka
- Ms. Sumitra Mahajan – Public Affairs – Madhya Pradesh
- Shri Nripendra Misra – Civil Service – Uttar Pradesh
- Shri Ram Vilas Paswan (Posthumous) – Public Affairs- Bihar
- Shri Keshubhai Patel (Posthumous) Public Affairs – Gujarat
- Shri Kalbe Sadiq (Posthumous) Others-Spiritualism – Uttar Pradesh
- Shri Rajnikant Devidas Shroff Trade and Industry- Maharashtra
- Shri Tarlochan Singh Public Affairs- Haryana
Padma Shri
- Shri Gulfam Ahmed -Art – Uttar Pradesh
- Ms. P. Anitha – Sports- Tamil Nadu
- Shri Rama Swamy Annavarapu – Art – Andhra Pradesh
- Shri Subbu Arumugam – Art – Tamil Nadu
- Shri Prakasarao Asavadi – Literature and Education – Andhra Pradesh
- Ms. Bhuri Bai – Art – Madhya Pradesh
- Shri Radhe Shyam Barle – Art- Chhattisgarh
- Shri Dharma Narayan Barma – Literature and Education – West Bengal
- Ms. Lakhimi Baruah – Social Work – Assam
- Shri Biren Kumar Basak – Art – West Bengal
- Ms. Rajni Bector – Trade and Industry – Punjab
- Shri Peter Brook – Art- United Kingdom
- Ms. Sangkhumi Bualchhuak – Social Work – Mizoram
- Shri Gopiram Bargayn Burabhakat – Art – Assam
- Bijoya Chakravarty – Public Affairs – Assam
- Shri Sujit Chattopadhyay – Literature and Education – West Bengal
- Shri Jagdish Chaudhary (Posthumous) – Social Work – Uttar Pradesh
- Shri Tsultrim Chonjor – Social Work- Ladakh
- Ms. Mouma Das- Sports – West Bengal
- Shri Srikant Datar – Literature and Education – United States of America
- Shri Narayan Debnath – Art – West Bengal
- Chutni Devi – Social Work – Jharkhand
- Ms. Dulari Devi – Art – Bihar
- Ms. Radhe Devi – Art – Manipur
- Ms. Shanti Devi – Social Work- Odisha
- Shri Wayan Dibia – Art – Indonesia
- Shri Dadudan Gadhavi- Literature & Education – Gujarat
- Shri Parshuram Atmaram Gangavane- Art – Maharashtra
- Shri Jai Bhagwan Goyal – Literature and Education – Haryana
- Shri Jagadish Chandra Halder – Literature and Education – West Bengal
- Shri Mangal Singh Hazowary – Literature and Education- Assam
- Ms. Anshu Jamsenpa – Sports – Arunachal Pradesh
- Ms. Purnamasi Jani – Art- Odisha
- Matha B. Manjamma Jogati – Art- Karnataka
- Shri Damodaran Kaithapram – Art – Kerala
- Shri Namdeo C Kamble- Literature and Education – Maharashtra
- Shri Maheshbhai & Shri Nareshbhai Kanodia (Duo) * (Posthumous) – Art – Gujarat
- Shri Rajat Kumar Kar – Literature and Education – Odisha
- Shri Rangasami Lakshminarayana Kashyap – Literature and Education – Karnataka
- Ms. Prakash Kaur – Social Work – Punjab
- Shri Nicholas Kazanas – Literature and Education – Greece
- Shri K Kesavasamy – Art – Puducherry
- Shri Ghulam Rasool Khan – Art – Jammu and Kashmir
- Shri Lakha Khan – Art – Rajasthan
- Ms. Sanjida Khatun – Art- Bangladesh
- Shri Vinayak Vishnu Khedekar – Art- Goa
- Ms. Niru Kumar -Social Work -Delhi
- Ms. Lajwanti- Art -Punjab
- Shri Rattan Lal -Science and Engineering -United States of America
- Shri Ali Manikfan Others-Grassroots Innovation – Lakshadweep
- Shri Ramachandra Manjhi – Art – Bihar
- Shri Dulal Manki – Art – Assam
- Shri Nanadro B Marak Others- Agriculture – Meghalaya
- Shri Rewben Mashangva – Art – Manipur
- Shri Chandrakant Mehta – Literature and Education – Gujarat
- Dr. Rattan Lal Mittal – Medicine Punjab
- Shri Madhavan Nambiar -Sports – Kerala
- Shri Shyam Sundar Paliwal – Social Work – Rajasthan
- Dr. Chandrakant Sambhaji Pandav – Medicine – Delhi
- Dr. J N Pande (Posthumous) – Medicine – Delhi
- Shri Solomon Pappaiah – Literature and Education- Journalism – Tamil Nadu
- Ms. Pappammal Others- Agriculture – Tamil Nadu
- Dr. Krishna Mohan Pathi -Medicine – Odisha
- Ms. Jaswantiben Jamnadas Popat -Trade and Industry – Maharashtra
- Shri Girish Prabhune -Social Work – Maharashtra
- Shri Nanda Prusty – Literature and Education – Odisha
- Shri K K Ramachandra Pulavar – Art – Kerala
- Shri Balan Putheri – Literature and Education – Kerala
- Ms. Birubala Rabha – Social Work – Assam
- Shri Kanaka Raju – Art – Telangana
- Ms. Bombay Jayashri Ramnath – Art – Tamil Nadu
- Shri Satyaram Reang – Art – Tripura
- Dr. Dhananjay Diwakar Sagdeo – Medicine – Kerala
- Shri Ashok Kumar Sahu – Medicine – Uttar Pradesh
- Dr. Bhupendra Kumar Singh Sanjay – Medicine – Uttarakhand
- Ms. Sindhutai Sapkal – Social Work – Maharashtra
- Shri Chaman Lal Sapru (Posthumous) – Literature and Education – Jammu and Kashmir
- Shri Roman Sarmah – Literature and Education- Journalism Assam
- Shri Imran Shah – Literature and Education – Assam
- Shri Prem Chand Sharma Others- Agriculture – Uttarakhand
- Shri Arjun Singh Shekhawat – Literature and Education – Rajasthan
- Shri Ram Yatna Shukla – Literature and Education – Uttar Pradesh
- Shri Jitender Singh Shunty – Social Work – Delhi
- Shri Kartar Paras Ram Singh – Art – Himachal Pradesh
- Shri Kartar Singh – Art – Punjab
- Dr. Dilip Kumar Singh – Medicine – Bihar
- Shri Chandra Shekhar Singh Others-Agriculture – Uttar Pradesh
- Ms. Sudha Hari Narayan Singh – Sports – Uttar Pradesh
- Shri Virender Singh – Sports – Haryana
- Ms. Mridula Sinha (Posthumous) – Literature and Education – Bihar
- Shri K C Sivasankar (Posthumous) – Art – Tamil Nadu
- Guru Maa Kamali Soren – Social Work – West Bengal
- Shri Marachi Subburaman- Social Work – Tamil Nadu
- Shri P Subramanian (Posthumous)- Trade and Industry- Tamil Nadu
- Ms. Nidumolu Sumathi -Art -Andhra Pradesh
- Shri Kapil Tiwari – Literature and Education – Madhya Pradesh
- Father Vallés (Posthumous)- Literature and Education – Spain
- Dr. Thiruvengadam Veeraraghavan (Posthumous) – Medicine – Tamil Nadu
- Shri Sridhar Vembu – Trade and Industry – Tamil Nadu
- Shri K Y Venkatesh – Sports- Karnataka
- Ms. Usha Yadav – Literature and Education – Uttar Pradesh
- Col Quazi Sajjad Ali Zahir – Public Affairs – Bangladesh
