Tarun Gogoi and 8 others from Assam among Padma awardees

President of India Ram Nath Kovind on Monday gave out the prestigious Padma awards to laureates from across the nation for their contribution to the nation in various fields, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.

Seven individuals from Assam have been honoured with the fourth highest civilian award in India – the Padma Shri and one has been awarded with the third highest honour – the Padma Bhushan. These honours follow the prestigious Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhushan.

Among these distinguished awardees is former Chief Minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi, who has been presented with the honour of Padma Bhushan, posthumously. Gogoi passed away in 2020 owing to post COVID-19 complications and was the longest serving Chief Minister of Assam.

The Padma Shri awardees in the list includes names of renowned intellectuals such as Bijoya Chakravarty who received the award for Public Affairs, Lakhimi Baruah, Gopiram Bargayn Burabhakat and Dulal Manki for Art, Birubala Rabha for Social Work, Roman Sarmah for Literature and Education – Journalism; and Mangal Singh Hazowary and Sri Imran Shah for their contribution in both Literature and Education domains.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took to twitter congratulating the gems from the state for their contribution to the nation in their respective fields and for bringing their state immense pride and joy.

The Padma Awards were instituted in 1954 and are awarded to citizens of India in recognition of their distinguished contribution in various spheres of activity including arts, education, industry, literature, science, sports, medicine, social service and public affairs.

119 awards were presented this year comprising 7 Padma Vibhushan, 10 Padma Bhushan and 102 Padma Shri Awards. Of these awardees 29 are women, 16 Posthumous awardees and 1 transgender awardee.

Also read: Tripura: Satyaram Reang to receive Padma Shri