The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service of a high order...without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex." The award criteria include "service in any field including service rendered by Government servants" including doctors and scientists, but exclude those working with the public sector undertakings. As of 2020, the award has been bestowed on 1270 individuals, including twenty-four posthumous and ninety-seven non-citizen recipients.
Viswanathan Shanta was an Indian oncologist and the chairperson of Adyar Cancer Institute, Chennai. She is best known for her efforts towards making quality and affordable cancer treatment accessible to all patients in her country. She dedicated herself to the mission of organizing care for cancer patients, study of the disease, research on its prevention and cure, spreading awareness about the disease, and developing specialists and scientists in various subspecialties of oncology. Her work won her several awards, including the Magsaysay Award, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award given by the Government of India.
Khalid Abdul Hamid Ansari is an Indian businessman and journalist. He is the Chairman of the Mid-Day Group of publications based in Mumbai, and of Inquilab Publications Ltd. He is the son of Abdul Hamid Ansari, independence activist and Congressman, who founded The Inquilab Publications Ltd in 1938 during the freedom movement. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2001. He has also written a number of books on cricket.
Muzaffar Hussain Baig is an Indian politician from Kashmir. He was the former Deputy Chief Minister of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. On Republic Day of 2020 he received India's third highest civilian honour Padma Bhushan.
Nawab Ali Yavar Jung Bahadur was an Indian diplomat. He served as Indian Ambassador in Argentina, Egypt, Yugoslavia and Greece, France, and the United States.
Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman is an Indian scholar of Unani medicine. He founded Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences in 2000. He had earlier served as Professor and chairman, Department of Ilmul Advia at the Ajmal Khan Tibbiya College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, for over 40 years before retiring as Dean Faculty of Unani Medicine. Presently, he is serving AMU as "Honorary Treasurer". In 2006, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri for his contribution to Unani Medicine.
Major Hari Pal Singh Ahluwalia was an Indian mountaineer, author, social worker and Indian Ordnance Factories Service (IOFS) officer. During his career he made contributions in the fields of adventure, sports, environment, disability and social work. He is one of six Indian men and the twenty first man in the world to climb Mount Everest. On 29 May 1965, 12 years to the day from the first ascent of Mount Everest, he made the summit with the fourth and final successful attempt of the 1965 Indian Everest Expedition along with H. C. S. Rawat and Phu Dorjee Sherpa. This was the first time three climbers stood on the summit together.
Captain Mohan Singh Kohli is an internationally renowned Indian mountaineer. An officer in the Indian Navy, who later joined the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, he led the 1965 Indian expedition which put nine men on the summit of Everest, a world record which lasted for 17 years.
Syedna Tahir Saifuddin School, better known by its initials STS School, and by its former name Minto Circle, is a K–12 semi-residential high school under Aligarh Muslim University at Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. Established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental Collegiate School in 1875, it later evolved as Aligarh Muslim University and is one of the five senior secondary schools run by the university.
Raja and Radha Reddy are an Indian Kuchipudi dancing couple, gurus and choreographers. They are renowned as exponents of the South Indian dance form of Kuchipudi. They founded and run the Natya Tarangini Institute of Kuchipudi Dance in New Delhi. The duo are credited with having given Kuchipudi a new dimension without compromising on its traditional virtues. For their services to the field of arts, the Government of India has conferred on them the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards.
Mohammad Amin was an Indian historian. He was the vice chancellor of Jamia Hamdard; taught History at St. Stephen's College, Delhi University for four decades; and was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2010.
Nazir Ahmed (1915-2008) was an Indian scholar, writer, and teacher of the Persian language. He was honoured by the Indian Government in 1987 with the Padma Shri. He received this award for his contributions to the propagation of Persian Language and literature.
Hakim Abdul Hameed was an Indian physician of the traditional medicine system of Unani, the founder chancellor of Jamia Hamdard, and a former chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. His ancestors came from Kashgar to the Indian subcontinent, in the reign of the Mughal emperor, Shah Alam. He was the founder and chief trustee of Hamdard Laboratories. He was honoured by the Government of India in 1965, with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award and in 1992, the government awarded him the third highest Indian honour of Padma Bhushan. He was the elder brother of the Hakeem Muhammad Saeed.
Sonam Gyatso (1923–1968) was an Indian mountaineer. He was the 2nd Indian man, the 17th man in world and first person from Sikkim to summit Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world. He was one of the nine summiters of the first successful Indian Everest Expeditions that climbed Mount Everest in May 1965 led by Captain M S Kohli. The first time that the oldest man at the time, Sonam Gyatso at age 42, and the youngest man Sonam Wangyal at age 23, climbed Everest together on 22 May 1965. He became the oldest person to scale the peak in 1965 and when he spent 50 minutes at the peak, he set a world record for spending the longest time at the highest point on Earth. The Government of India awarded him the third highest honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1965, for his contributions to the sport of mountaineering.
Tapan Kumar Lahiri is an Indian cardiothoracic surgeon, medical academic and writer from the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. He is a former professor at the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery of the Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2016, for his contributions to medicine.
Sulagitti Narasamma was an Indian midwife from Pavagada town, in Tumkur district of Karnataka state. She performed more than 20,000 traditional deliveries free of charge over a 70-year period of service in deprived regions of Karnataka with no medical facilities. Her work was honored with the National Citizen's award of India in 2012 and the country's fourth highest civilian award, the Padma Shri, in 2018.
Darshan Lal Jain was an Indian social activist, who was awarded Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award, in 2019 for his contribution in social work. He was known for educating young girls and financially troubled children.
Bharat Bhushan Tyagi is an Indian farmer, educator and trainer from Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, who was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India, in 2019. He organises weekly training for farmers at Bulandshahr and has trained over 80,000 farmers. He is also a recipient of Progressive Farmer Award by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
Ramakant Maheshwar Muzumdar was an IOFS officer. He was the second Indian Director General of the Indian Ordnance Factories. He studied engineering at the University of Cambridge.
M. Khalilullah is an Indian cardiologist and a former honorary physician to the President of India. He is a recipient of Padma Bhushan in 1990 and Padma Shri in 1984 (the fourth highest civilian award in India He also received the highest award a doctor can achieve in India - Dr. B.C. Roy award in 1984.
