Kalyan Singh receives Padma Vibhushan award posthumously

New Delhi, March 28: Former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Kalyan Singh was conferred with the Padma Vibhushan award posthumously at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday. The veteran politician was awarded the coveted honor for his public affairs by President Ram Nath Kovind. He was known as a veteran administrator and grassroot level leader, who had connections with the masses. Meanwhile, renowned vocalist Prabha Atre conferred Padma Vibhushan for art. An internationally vocalist representing Kirana gharana, she has excelled as a brilliant thinker, academician, author, composer, researcher and reformer. Many other prominent figures were awarded for exemplary work in their respective fields. Renowned actor Victor Banerjee was honored Padma Bhushan for Art. He has worked on several award-winning films and also worked extensively on stage. Para Badminton player who won Gold Medal in Tokyo 2020 Paralympics games Pramod Bhagat and Paralympic Gold medalist para-athlete Sumit Antil received the Padma Shri award in the field of sports. Antil is a para-athlete, who won Gold medal in Paralympics 2020 Tokyo by breaking the world record three times in a single final. Sulochana Chavan received Padma Shri Award for Art. She is known for her “Lavanis” in Marathi, has rendered voice to around 250 Hindi and over 5000 Marathi songs. Singer Sonu Nigam received Padma Shri Award. The singer has sung 4000 songs in 10 languages. Many other prominent figures were also presented with the award for exemplary work in their respective fields. The Padma awards are conferred in three categories — Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri and given in various disciplines such as art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc. This year, a total of 128 Padma Awards were conferred in a two-part ceremony. The second ceremony was held on Monday. ‘Padma Vibhushan’ is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; ‘Padma Bhushan’ for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field. (UNI)