Ahead of celebrating India's 67th republic day, the central government announced the complete list of Padma awardees and among the list of 85 receipients, 6 of them belonged to Tamil Nadu. While it was a matter of honour and pride for our entire state, musician Ilyaraja took all the limelight for being awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award of our country. Among the 9 Padma Bhushan awardees was Tamil Nadu's fames archaelogist, Ramachandran Nagaswamy.
Popular Tamil folk singer Vijayalakshmi Navaneethakrishnan was among the list of Padma Shri awardees from Tamil Nadu that also included Nanammal, a yoga instructor, Rajagopalan Vasudevan who gave the technique of Plastic-road making to the government for free and wildlife conservationist Romulus Earl Whitaker.
Checkout the complete list of awardees here that also include well known names like M.S. Dhoni and Pankaj Advani among others.
Padma Vibhushan:
- Illaiyaraja, Art-Music, Tamil Nadu
- Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Art-Music, Maharashtra
- Parameswaran Parameswaran, Literature and Education, Kerala
Padma Bhushan:
- Pankaj Advani, Sports- Billiards/Snooker, Karnataka
- Philipose Mar Chrysostom, Others-Spiritualism, Kerala
- Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sports-Cricket,Jharkhand
- Alexander Kadakin (Foreigner/Posthumous), Public Affairs, Russia
- Ramachandran Nagaswamy, Others-Archaeology, Tamil Nadu
- Ved Prakash Nanda (OCI), Literature and Education, USA
- Laxman Pai, Art-Painting, Goa
- Arvind Parikh, Art-Music, Maharashtra
- Sharda Sinha, Art-Music, Bihar
Padma Shri:
- Abhay Bang and Ms. Rani Bang (Duo), Medicine, Maharashtra
- Damodar Ganesh Bapat, Social Work, Chhattisgarh
- Prafulla Govinda Baruah, Literature and Education-Journalism, Assam
- Mohan Swaroop Bhatia, Art-Folk Music, Uttar Pradesh
- Shri Sudhanshu Biswas, Social Work, West Bengal
- Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, Sports-Weightlifting, Manipur
- Pandit Shyamlal Chaturvedi, Literature and Education-Journalism, Chhattisgarh
- Jose Ma Joey Concepcion III (Foreigner), Trade & Industry, Philippines
- Langpoklakpam Subadani Devi, Art-Weaving, Manipur
- Somdev Devvarman, Sports-Tennis, Tripura
- Yeshi Dhoden, Medicine, Himachal Pradesh
- Arup Kumar Dutta, Literature and Education, Assam
- Doddarange Gowda, Art-Lyrics, Karnataka
- Arvind Gupta, Literature and Education, Maharashtra
- Digamber Hansda, Literature and Education, Jharkhand
- Ramli Bin Ibrahim(Foreigner), Art-Dance, Malaysia
- Anwar Jalalpuri (Posthumous), Literature and Education, Uttar Pradesh
- Piyong Temjen Jamir, Literature and Education, Nagaland
- Sitavva Joddati, Social Work, Karnataka
- Malti Joshi, Literature and Education, Madhya Pradesh
- Manoj Joshi, Art-Acting, Maharashtra
- Rameshwarlal Kabra, Trade & Industry, Maharashtra
- Pran Kishore Kaul, Art, Jammu and Kashmir
- Bounlap Keokangna, (Foreigner), Others-Architecture, Laos
- Vijay Kichlu, Art-Music, West Bengal
- Tommy Koh (Foreigner), Public Affairs, Singapore
- Lakshmikutty, Medicine-Traditional, Kerala
- Joyshree Goswami Mahanta, Literature and Education, Assam
- Narayan Das Maharaj, Others-Spiritualism, Rajasthan
- Pravakara Maharana, Art-Sculpture, Odisha
- Hun Many (Foreigner), Public Affairs, Cambodia
- Nouf Marwaai (Foreigner), Others- Yoga, Saudi Arabia
- Zaverilal Mehta, Literature and Education-Journalism, Gujarat
- Krishna Bihari Mishra, Literature and Education, West Bengal
- Sisir Purushottam Mishra, Art-Cinema, Maharashtra
- Subhasini Mistry, Social Work, West Bengal
- Tomio Mizokami (Foreigner), Literature and Education, Japan
- Somdet Phra Maha Muniwong (Foreigner), Others-Spiritualism, Thailand
- Keshav Rao Musalgaonkar, Literature and Education, Madhya Pradesh
- Dr. Thant Myint – U (Foreigner), Public Affairs, Myanmar
- V Nanammal, Others-Yoga, Tamil Nadu
- Sulagitti Narasamma, Social Work, Karnataka
- Vijayalakshmi Navaneethakrishnan, Art-Folk Music, Tamil Nadu
- I Nyoman Nuarta (Foreigner), Art- Sculpture, Indonesia
- Malai Haji Abdullah Bin Malai Haji Othman (Foreigner), Social Work, Brunei Darussalam
- Gobaradhan Panika, Art-Weaving, Odisha
- Bhabani Charan Pattanaik, Public Affairs, Odisha
- Murlikant Petkar, Sports-Swimming, Maharashtra
- Habibullo Rajabov (Foreigner), Literature and Education, Tajikistan
- M R Rajagopal, Medicine-Palliative Care, Kerala
- Sampat Ramteke (Posthumous), Social Work, Maharashtra
- Chandra Sekhar Rath, Literature and Education, Odisha
- S S Rathore, Civil Service, Gujarat
- Amitava Roy, Science and Engineering, West Bengal
- Sanduk Ruit (Foreigner), Medicine-Ophthalmology, Nepal
- R Sathyanarayana, Art-Music, Karnataka
- Pankaj M Shah, Medicine-Oncology, Gujarat
- Bhajju Shyam, Art-Painting, Madhya Pradesh
- Maharao Raghuveer Singh, Literature and Education, Rajasthan
- Kidambi Srikanth, Sports-Badminton, Andhra Pradesh
- Ibrahim Sutar, Art-Music, Karnataka
- Siddeshwara Swamiji, Others-Spiritualism, Karnataka
- Lentina Ao Thakkar, Social Work, Nagaland
- Vikram Chandra Thakur, Science and Engineering, Uttarakhand
- Rudrapatnam Narayanaswamy Tharanathan and Shri Rudrapatnam Narayanaswamy Thyagarajan (Duo), Art-Music, Karnataka
- Nguyen Tien Thien (Foreigner), Others-Spiritualism, Vietnam Bhagirath Prasad Tripathi, Literature and Education, Uttar Pradesh
- Rajagopalan Vasudevan, Science and Engineering, Tamil Nadu
- Manas Bihari Verma, Science and Engineering, Bihar
- Panatawane Gangadhar Vithobaji, Literature and Education, Maharashtra
- Romulus Whitaker, Others-Wildlife Conservation, Tamil Nadu
- Shri Baba Yogendra, Art, Madhya Pradesh
- A Zakia, Literature and Education, Mizoram