Dharmendra, VS Achuthanandan among Padma Vibhushan awardees
Former Kerala Chief Minister and CPI(M) leader VS Achuthanandan and actor Dharmendra are among the awardees to receive the second-highest civilian honour, Padma Vibhushan, posthumously for 2026, the Government announced on Sunday. In a statement, the Government announced 131 Padma awards for the year 2026, including five Padma Vibhushan, 13 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri, which includes two duo cases in which the award for two individuals is counted as one.
Ninety awardees are women, and the list also includes six persons from the category of foreigners, NRI, PIO, OCI, and 16 posthumous awardees, it said. Besides Dharmendra and Achuthanandan, former Supreme Court judge KT Thomas for public affairs, Hindustani classical musician and violinist N Rajam in art, eminent Malayalam writer and RSS newspaper Janmabhoomi 's former Chief Editor P Narayanan in literature and education have also been awarded Padma Vibhushan.
The Padma Bhushan has also been awarded to playback singer Alka Yagnik, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshyari, actor Mammootty, tennis legend Vijay Amritraj, banker Uday Kotak, Tamil Nadu-based gastroenterologist Kallipatti Ramasamy Palaniswamy, US-based oncologist Nori Dattatreyudu, social worker SKM Maeilanandhan, Avadhanam bhajan performer Shatavadhani R Ganesh and General Secretary of SNDP Yogam and SN Trust Vellappally Natesan, the statement mentioned further.
Senior BJP Leader VK Malhotra, JMM Founder and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren and advertising icon Piyush Pandey have been given the award posthumously. Indian aerospace scientist in Defence Research and Development Laboratory, Chandramouli Gaddamanugu, who directed the Akash Missile system from development to deployment during Operation Sindoor, and ISRO's eminent scientist, A E Muthunayagam, who led the cryogenic propulsion system, have been awarded Padma Shri.
K Vijay Kumar, the former CRPF DG and chief of STF that killed notorious poacher Veerappan and the founder of community radio in India, along with Satyanarayan Nuwal, the founder of India's first licensed private defence company, which pioneered manufacturing of indigenous ammunition, have also been awarded with Padma Shri.
Cricketer Rohit Sharma, who led India to victory in the last T20 World Cup, women's cricket captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who led India to its first ODI World Cup victory, hockey players Savita Punia and Baldev Singh, and para athlete Praveen Kumar have been awarded Padma Shri as well, the statement said.
Actors R Madhavan, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai actor Arvind Vaidya and Anil Kumar Rastogi, Gadde Babu Rajendra Prasad have also been awarded Padma Shri. Former MHA Under Secretary RVS Mani, former JNU VC M Jagadesh Kumar and former Prasar Bharti CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati, archaeologist Budha Krishna Mani, who led excavations in Ayodhya and Sarnath, have been awarded Padma Shri, the Ministry said.
The award has also been given to Ashok Khade, a self-made entrepreneur from a Dalit cobbler family, who established a cutting-edge offshore fabrication company; Ashok Kumar Singh, an agriculture scientist who developed over 25 rice varieties; and Dalit author Asok Kumar Haldar, who wrote inspiring literature while being a railway guard.
