Padma Awards

1. Three tiers, ranked

Think of the Padma Awards as three steps on one ladder. Each step is for a higher level of service. The Bharat Ratna stands above all three.

• Padma Vibhushan is for “exceptional and distinguished service”. It is the highest of the three.
• Padma Bhushan is for “distinguished service of a high order”. It is the middle step.
• Padma Shri is for “distinguished service”. It is the first step.

The Supreme Court lists the four National Awards in this same order: Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri.

2. Who is eligible

The rule is wide on purpose. Anyone can be honoured, whatever their race, occupation, position or sex. The selectors look for what they call “excellence plus”. Skill alone is not enough. The person’s work must also carry an element of public service.

A few limits apply:

• Government servants, including those at PSUs, are not eligible. Doctors and scientists are the exception.
• Awards are normally not given after death. In highly deserving cases, a recent demise (within a year before Republic Day) can still qualify.
• A higher Padma tier normally needs a gap of at least five years after the earlier one.

3. How names are chosen

Selection starts with recommendations and ends with the President’s approval. The Government invites every citizen to nominate, and self-nomination is allowed. State and UT governments, Union ministries, past Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhushan awardees and institutes of excellence also send names.

All names go before the Padma Awards Committee. The Prime Minister constitutes it afresh every year. The Cabinet Secretary heads it. The Home Secretary, the Secretary to the President and four to six eminent persons sit on it.

The Committee only recommends. Its list goes to the Prime Minister and the President for approval. Then the names are published in the Gazette of India.

4. The 120 limit and the calendar

The scheme caps the number of awards in a year at 120. Two groups sit outside that cap: posthumous awards and awards to foreigners. This is why a year’s full list can run longer than 120 names. In 2026 the list had 131.

The calendar is fixed:

• Names are announced around Republic Day, on 25 or 26 January.
• The President presents the awards at Rashtrapati Bhavan, usually in March or April.
• Each awardee gets a Sanad (certificate) and a medallion. No cash allowance or travel concession comes with the award.

5. From 1954 to today

The National Awards were formally started in January 1954. Two Presidential Notifications dated 2 January 1954 created them. A year later, four fresh notifications dated 8 January 1955 replaced those two. The 1955 notifications fixed each award’s name and purpose. They also said any person could be eligible and that awards could be given after death.

The awards then had a break. On 8 August 1977 a notification cancelled them. On 25 January 1980 they were revived, and since then they have been conferred every Republic Day.

6. Two breaks in the record

An exam favourite is that the awards were not suspended just once. The MHA scheme note records “brief interruptions” in 1978 and 1979, and again from 1993 to 1997.

The first break matches the 1977 cancellation and the 1980 revival. The second falls in the years of the court challenge. Two petitions filed in 1992, in the Kerala and Madhya Pradesh High Courts, asked the courts to stop the awards. The Supreme Court decided them on 15 December 1995.

7. Are they "titles"? The Article 18 ruling

Article 18(1) says the State shall not confer any title, except a military or academic distinction. The petitioners argued that the Padma Awards, being honours with names, are titles in disguise. A five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court had to decide.

The Court held that the National Awards are not titles. That is why they are lawful. But it added a condition. The awards must not be used as prefixes or suffixes to a name, as “Padma Shri Mr X” would do. A person who does so forfeits the award, under Regulation 10 of the founding notifications.

A 1968 Government press note had already said the same thing. The judgment is dated 15 December 1995. Some sources say 1996, which is wrong.

8. The Court's worry about numbers

The Court did more than settle the title question. It also criticised how awards were chosen. It called the selection guidelines “extremely wide, imprecise” and open to abuse. At that time no maximum number of awards per year was fixed.

The Court warned that too many awards dilute their value, and asked for a high-level committee to review the guidelines. Today’s scheme note carries a yearly limit of 120.

9. Bharat Ratna and Padma side by side

The Bharat Ratna is for exceptional service towards art, literature and science, and for public service of the highest order. The three Padma awards sit below it, each with its own purpose line.

All four are National Awards, and the 1995 ruling covers all four together. None of them is a title.

10. Traps to avoid

Most exam mistakes on this topic come from half-remembered rules. Check each statement against these five:

• “Suspended once” is wrong. The record shows two breaks, 1978–79 and 1993–97.
• “The awards are titles” is wrong. The Supreme Court held that they are not.
• “Government servants are never eligible” is wrong. Doctors and scientists can be honoured.
• “The 120 limit covers every name” is wrong. Posthumous and foreigner awards are outside it.
• “The Padma Award is a single award” is wrong. There are three tiers.

11. The UPSC question on Padma Awards

UPSC CSP 2021 gave three statements about the Bharat Ratna and Padma Awards. The answer key marks all three as not correct. Two of them can be checked against the sources above.

• Statement 1 said the awards are titles under Article 18(1). The 1995 judgment says they are not.
• Statement 2 said the awards were suspended only once. The MHA record shows two breaks.

The full question and key are on the paper page on this site.

12. The 2026 numbers

The President approved 131 Padma Awards for 2026. Two of these are duo cases. A duo case, where two people share one award, counts as one award. The press note is dated 25 January 2026.

• 5 Padma Vibhushan.
• 13 Padma Bhushan.
• 113 Padma Shri.

The list also includes 19 women, 6 foreigners, NRIs, PIOs or OCIs, and 16 posthumous awardees.

13. Some 2026 names

Padma Vibhushan went to Dharmendra Singh Deol (posthumous), K T Thomas, N Rajam, P Narayanan and V S Achuthanandhan (posthumous). Padma Bhushan includes Alka Yagnik, Mammootty and Vijay Amritraj. Padma Shri includes Rohit Sharma and Savita Punia. Check the official list before using any single name in notes.

14. Civil Investiture Ceremony-II

The 2026 awards were presented in two ceremonies at Rashtrapati Bhavan. President Droupadi Murmu presented the first batch at Civil Investiture Ceremony-I on 25 May 2026. She presented the second batch at Ceremony-II on 23 June 2026. The Vice President, the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister were among those present.

So the usual March or April timing was not followed in 2026.