2020 Padma Awards: Posthumous honour for SP Balasubrahmanyam; Bombay Jayashri, KS Chithra among artists recognised

Leading luminaries from the field of arts and culture were honoured with Padma awards on 25 January 2021, in the run-up to India’s Republic Day celebrations. The Padma awards were announced on Monday evening by the Ministry Of Home Affairs and included a total of 119 honours, to celebrate distinguished contributions to sports, medicine, art and entertainment, literature and education, social work and public affairs, among others. Honours were conferred in all three categories — the Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. Among the prominent awardees were SP Balasubrahmanyam, who has been posthumously conferred the Padma Vibhushan. Balasubrahmanyam, among India’s most celebrated singers, passed away in September 2020 after being hospitalised due to COVID-19 complications. Seven Padma Vibhushan awards in all were announced, with artist Sudharshan Sahoo and archaeologist BB Lal also among the honourees. Ten personalities were granted Padma Bhushans, with renowned singer KS Chithra representing the art and culture domain. Lastly, 102 awards were announced in the Padma Shri category. Lakha Khan, the master of the Sindhi sarangi, is among the artists to be granted the honour, as is the noted musician Bombay Jayashri Ramnath, and Ghulam Rasool Khan. Chandamama artist and popular illustrator KC Sivasankar, who passed away in September, has also been honoured with a posthumous Padma Shri. The Padma Awards are among the highest civilian awards in India. The Government of India’s Press Information Bureau noted that “29 of the awardees [this year] are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI, 16 posthumous awardees and 1 transgender awardee”. The awards are conferred by the President of India at a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Over 16,000 nominations were received by the Government of India for the 2020 Padma Awards.