Former Kerala Chief Minister and veteran Communist leader V S Achuthanandan and legendary actor Dharmendra are among the prominent personalities who will receive the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian honour, posthumously for 2026, the government announced on Sunday.
In an official statement, the government announced a total of 131 Padma awards for 2026, which include five Padma Vibhushan, 13 Padma Bhushan, and 113 Padma Shri awards. The count also includes two duo cases, where an award given jointly to two individuals is treated as one.
The list features 90 women awardees, along with six individuals from the categories of foreign nationals, NRIs, PIOs and OCIs. Additionally, 16 awards will be conferred posthumously, the statement said.
Besides Dharmendra and Achuthanandan, other Padma Vibhushan awardees include former Supreme Court judge Justice K T Thomas (Public Affairs), renowned Hindustani classical violinist N Rajam (Art), eminent Malayalam journalist P Narayanan (Literature and Education), and filmmaker Siddharth Anand.
The Padma Bhushan awardees include playback singer Alka Yagnik, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshyari, actor Mammootty, tennis legend Vijay Amritraj, banker Uday Kotak, Tamil Nadu-based gastroenterologist Dr Kallipatti Ramasamy Palaniswamy, US-based oncologist Dr Nori Dattatreyudu, social worker S K M Maeilanandhan, Avadhanam bhajan performer Shatavadhani R Ganesh, and Vellappally Natesan, General Secretary of SNDP Yogam and SN Trust.
Senior BJP leader V K Malhotra, JMM founder and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren, and advertising icon Piyush Pandey have been awarded the Padma Bhushan posthumously.
Among the Padma Shri awardees are Indian aerospace scientist Chandramouli Gaddamanugu of the Defence Research and Development Laboratory, who led the Akash missile system from development to deployment during Operation Sindoor, and eminent ISRO scientist A E Muthunayagam, who spearheaded the cryogenic propulsion system.
Former CRPF Director General Ramamurthy Sreedhar, who headed the STF operation that eliminated notorious poacher Veerappan, Satyanarayan Nuwal, founder of India’s first licensed private defence manufacturing company, and the founder of India’s community radio movement have also been honoured with the Padma Shri.
Sports personalities awarded the Padma Shri include cricketer Rohit Sharma, who led India to victory in the last T20 World Cup, women’s cricket captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who captained India to its first ODI World Cup triumph, hockey players Savita Punia, Sreedhar Baldev Singh, and para-athlete Praveen Kumar.
Actors R Madhavan, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Arvind Vaidya, Anil Kumar Rastogi, and Gadde Babu Rajendra Prasad have also received the Padma Shri.
Other notable Padma Shri awardees include former MHA Under Secretary R V S Mani, former JNU Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, former Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati, and archaeologist Budha Krishna Mani, who led key excavations at Ayodhya and Sarnath, the ministry added.