NEW DELHI: Sixteen persons under the category of foreigners, NRI, PIO and OCI were among 85 individuals announced the winners of the Padma awards today.
Prominent among them were Alexander Mikhailovich Kadakin, former Russian ambassador to India, Sanduk Ruit, an eye surgeon from Nepal and Nguyen Tien Thien, a badminton player from Vietnam.
Kadakin, who was the Russian Ambassador to India from 2009 until his death in 2017, was given Padma Bhushan. Ved Prakash Nanda OCI (overseas citizenship of India), USA has also been awarded the Padma Bhushan.
The Padma Shri recipients include Jose Ma Joey, the Philippines, Ramli Bin Ibrahim, Malaysia, Bounlap Keokangna, Laos, Tommy Koh, Singapore, Hun Many Cambodia, Nouf Marwaai, Saudi Arabia.
Tomio Mizokami (Japan), Somdet Phra Maha (Thailand), Thant Myint–U (Myanmar), I Nyoman Nuarta (Indonesia), Malai Haji Abdullah Bin Malai Haji Othman (Brunei) and Habibullo Rajabov (Tajikistan) have been given Padma Shri.
The Padma Awards - one of the highest civilian Awards of the country -- are conferred in three categories: the Padma Vibhushan, the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Shri.
The Padma Vibhushan is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service, while the Padma Bhushan is for distinguished service of high order and the Padma Shri for distinguished service in any field.