President Ram Nath Kovind today presented four Padma Vibhushan, eight Padma Bhushan, and 61 Padma Shri Awards for 2020 at a solemn ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Three of the Padma Vibhushan awards were given posthumously to former Defence Minister George Fernandes, former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, and former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
Noted Hindustani classical singer Chhannulal Mishra is the fourth recipient of the Padma Vibhushan award, the second-highest civilian honour after Bharat Ratna.
Olympian badminton player P V Sindhu, former Nagaland Chief Minister S C Jamir, renowned scholar Jagdish N Sheth and environmentalist Anil Prakash Joshi are among the eight Padma Bhushan awardees.
The other four Padma Bhushan awardees are Syed Muazzem Ali (posthumous) of Bangladesh for public affairs; M Mumtaz Ali of Kerala for public affairs; father of modern Indian legal education N R Madhava Menon (posthumous) and architect Balkrishna Doshi.
Among the dignitaries present on the occasion were Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Home Minister Amit Shah.