President Droupadi Murmu to confer 66 Padma Awards on Monday

NEW DELHI: President Droupadi Murmu will present Padma Awards for the year 2026 at the civil investiture ceremony to be held in Ganatantra Mandap of the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Monday.Vice President CP Radhakrishnan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and many other Union ministers and dignitaries will attend the ceremony, which is to be held in two phases.In the first civil investiture to be held on Monday, the President will confer 66 Padma Awards including 2 Padma Vibhushan, 6 Padma Bhushan and 58 Padma Shri. The remaining Padma Awards will be given in the second round of the civil investiture ceremony to be held later.Padma Awards - the highest civilian awards of the country after Bharat Ratna — are conferred for excellence and exemplary service across various disciplines/fields of activities, viz.- 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.For the year 2026, the President has approved conferment of 131 Padma Awards including 5 Padma Vibhushan, 13 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri Awards.