Six distinguished personalities from the Northeast have been selected for the coveted Padma Shri award.
According to the press note of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Shakuntala Choudhury and Dhaneswar Engti from Assam, Lourembam Bino Devi and Muktamani Devi from Manipur, T Senka Ao from Nagaland and Khandu Wangchuk Bhutia from Sikkim will get the Padma Shri award.
While Choudhury has been chosen for the award for her contribution to social work, T Senka Ao, Bino Devi and Bhutia have been selected for their contribution to the field of Art.
On the other hand, Engti will get the award for his contribution to literature and Muktamani Devi has been chosen for her contribution to the trade.
Padma Awards – one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, former Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat, classical vocalist Prabha Atre and Gita Press founder Radheyshyam Khemka were chosen for Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian award.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and Communist veteran Buddhadeb Bhattacharya were among 17 Padma Bhushan recipients.
The Awards are given in various disciplines/ fields of activities–art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.
‘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.
The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.
These awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March/ April every year.
This year the President has approved conferment of 128 Padma Awards including 2 duo case (in a duo case, the Award is counted as one) , said the press note.
The list comprises 4 Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 107 Padma Shri Awards.
34 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 13 Posthumous awardees, it added.