Correct Answer : Option (C) - Padma Vibhushan
The Indian GOVERNMENT on Tuesday(25th Jan 2022) announced the Padma Awards ahead of Republic Day 2022 and, in a bid to reach across the political divide, picked Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and CPI(M)’s Buddhadeb Bhattacharya for the Padma Bhushan. Also on the award list were the country’s Covid vaccine makers, leaders of US tech giants Google and Microsoft, and the late General Bipin Rawat, the first Chief of Defence Staff who, with his wife and 12 others, was killed in a helicopter crash last month.
Azad, ex-J&K chief minister and former Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, thanked the Government for recognising his sacrifices although he was a “hardcore Congressman”. But Bhattacharya, in line with his party’s policy, said in a statement: “If I have been given Padma Bhushan, I refuse to accept it.”
A total of
4 Padma Vibhushans,
17 Padma Bhushans and
107 Padma Shri awards have been conferred this year.
India’s first
Chief of Defence Staff "Bipin Rawat", former UP CM Kalyan Singh, Hindustani Classical vocalist Prabha Atre and Radheshyam Khemka of Gita Press have been named for the
Padma Vibhushan. Apart from Rawat, Singh and Khemka have been conferred the award posthumously.
Source : Indian Express
