Padma Awards, Stories
 

Data: More than 40% of the Padma Awards Conferred in the fields of Art, and Literature & Education

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The 2025 Padma Awards were recently announced, and the President of India has approved the conferment of 139 Padma Awards, including 7 Padma Vibhushan, 19 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri Awards. Data indicates that more than 40% of the Padma Awards to date have been conferred in the fields of Art, Literature & Education since 1954.

India celebrated its 76th Republic Day on 26 January 2025, marking a significant milestone in its democratic journey. This day honours the coming into force of the Indian Constitution in 1950, which established India as a sovereign, socialist, secular, and democratic republic. The celebrations are renowned for their grandeur. A series of events are organized by the Central Government in the national capital. These include flag hoisting, distribution of bravery awards, and the Republic Day Parade. Civilian awards such as Bharat Ratna, and Padma Awards are also announced on the eve of the Republic Day. Factly published a detailed data story on Civilian Awards, which can be read here. An explainer of the events that take place on that day is also available.

Download datasets related to Republic Day Events and Awards from Dataful. The collection has comprehensive datasets on Padma Awards, Republic Day Guests, and Tableaux Themes.

For the year 2025, the President approved the conferment of 139 Padma Awards including 7 Padma Vibhushan, 19 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri Awards. 23 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 13 Posthumous awardees. These Awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March/April every year.

Only a maximum of 120 Padma awards can be conferred each year

According to the official guidelines, the total number of Padma Awards granted in a year should not exceed 120, excluding posthumous awards and those given to Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), foreigners, or Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs). Excluding the foreigners and posthumous awards, a total of 118 awards have been announced in 2025.

To date, a total of 5,330 Padma Awards have been conferred. The awards have been announced every year, except in 1978, 1979, and from 1993 to 1997. The Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award in the country and is different from the Padma Award in its treatment and significance. So far, 53 Bharat Ratna awards have been conferred.

In all these years, a total of 98 awards have been conferred posthumously. Since 2009, a total of 20 awards have been conferred to duos, where two individuals receive the honour jointly. These are considered special cases. Each duo is counted as a single award rather than two separate ones.

Most Padma Awards are conferred in the field of Art and Literature & Education

The Padma Awards recognize outstanding contributions across various fields. They honour individuals for exceptional achievements or service. The awards cover a wide range of disciplines, including art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, business, medicine, literature and education, sports, and civil service, among others.

The majority of Padma Awards, around 23%, have been conferred in the field of Art, followed by nearly 20% in Literature and Education. Approximately 10% each have been awarded in Science and Engineering and Social Work. Together, these four disciplines constitute nearly two-thirds of the awards conferred.

The discipline with the highest number of awards varies across each Padma Award category. The majority of Padma Shri awards (around 909) have been conferred in Art. For Padma Bhushan, the highest number (303 awards) have been given in Literature and Education. Under Padma Vibhushan, most awards (79 awards) have been conferred in Public Affairs. The second most number of Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan were conferred in Art.

Of the 53 Bharat Ratna awards conferred, 30 have been awarded in Public Affairs, followed by 7 in Art and 6 in Social Work. No Bharat Ratna has been awarded in Medicine, and only one each has been conferred in Sports, Civil Service, and Trade & Industry.

More specific categories have been introduced in recent years

To analyse the evolving trends in the conferment of civilian awards (Padma awards and Bharat Ratna), we have divided the timeline of award conferment into six distinct periods:

  • 1954–1964
  • 1965–1975
  • 1976–1988
  • 1989–2003
  • 2004–2014
  • 2015–2025

In recent years, there has been increasing recognition of the Art as the number has increased over the years and the most awards were given between 2004-2014 and 2015-2025.

Likewise, sports have also gained recognition over the years. Cricket remains the most prominent sport represented among the Padma Awards conferred to sportspersons.

Awards for civil service had a strong presence in the early years (the 1950s, 60s and 70s) but declined sharply since the 90s. The number of awards in this discipline has become almost negligible in recent years.

Awards in Science and Engineering saw a significant increase between 1965 and 1975, peaking in the period from 1989 to 2003, with 136 awards conferred. However, in the last 10 years, there has been a slight reduction.

Literature and Education has been a consistently well-represented discipline. Journalism as a subcategory emerged only in the last couple of years.

The “Others” category for awards was introduced only in the late 1980s. Initially, it was quite broad, but in recent years, more specific subcategories have emerged, as per Ministry of Home Affairs’ notifications. Noteworthy additions include Spiritualism (15 awards), Yoga (3 awards), Archaeology (4 awards), and Agriculture (19 awards).

In certain cases, discipline in which an individual receives each award varied

In the case of individuals who received multiple awards, it’s important to note that the discipline in which they were honoured does not necessarily remain the same. For example, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was conferred civilian awards three times—once in Civil Service and twice in Science and Engineering. Similarly, Bellur Krishnamachar Sundara Raja Iyengar received three awards—twice in Literature and Education, and once in the “Others” category. Dr. Kantilal Hastimal Sancheti was honoured twice in Medicine and once in Social Work. Homi Nusserwanji Sethna received awards twice in Civil Service and once in Science and Engineering.

It is also worth emphasizing that each person can only receive a specific award once. For instance, an individual may be awarded the Padma Bhushan only once. However, if they receive awards in different disciplines, it means they were honoured with separate awards. For example, Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam was conferred the Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhushan in Science and Engineering and Padma Bhushan in Civil Service.

50% of awardees are from 4 states

In terms of state-wise distribution, Maharashtra has the greatest number of awardees (853) which constitutes roughly 17% of the total. Next in line is Delhi with 840, which is also about 17%. Tamil Nadu (464) with more than 9% awardees is in third place.

Four states, namely Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh, together accounted for 50% of the awardees and the top 10 states accounted for 77% of all the awardees.

It’s important to note that these civilian awards are conferred based on the states that nominate individuals, rather than their state of birth or origin.

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A bachelor’s degree in mathematics and master’s in social science, she is driven by ardent desire to work with this unique combination to create her own path instead of following the herd. Having served a stint as the college union chairperson, she is a strategist who is also passionate about nature conservation, art and loves solving Sudoku.

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