Padma Vibhushan Award Winners in Public Affairs

Civilian Awards Active

Published Sep 9, 2026 Updated Sep 9, 2026 1 min read

Overview History Segment Records Segment Chart FAQs

Name	Padma Vibhushan
Type	Civilian Awards
Award For	Exceptional and Distinguished Service
Award By	Goverment of India
First	1954
Last	26th January 2026
Status	Active
Country	India

About Padma Vibhushan Award Winners in Public Affairs

The Padma Vibhushan is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "exceptional and distinguished service". All persons without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex are eligible for these awards.

History of Padma Vibhushan Award Winners in Public Affairs

Padma Vibhushan Award Winners in Public Affairs recognizes India's most distinguished statesmen, jurists, and public servants. Notable recipients include Zakir Husain (1954, educationist and future President of India), Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1992, veteran parliamentarian and later Prime Minister), Pranab Mukherjee (2008, senior Congress leader and future President), L. K. Advani (2015, BJP stalwart and former Deputy Prime Minister), Sharad Pawar (2017, NCP founder and former Union Minister), and Sushma Swaraj (2020, former External Affairs Minister). Together they reflect decades of exceptional governance and public service spanning independence-era leaders to modern statesmen.

Padma Vibhushan Award Winners in Public Affairs Winners List

This Winners List features 79 winners of the Padma Vibhushan Award Winners in Public Affairs, from 1954 to 2026.

Year	Recipient Name	Gender	State, Country	Fields

2026	Justice K.T. Thomas Also won: Padma Bhushan	male	Kerala, India	Public Affairs
2026	V. S. Achuthanandan	male	Kerala, India	Public Affairs
2025	Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar	male	Chandigarh, India	Public Affairs
2024	Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu (Posthumous)	male	Andhra Pradesh, India	Public Affairs
2023	Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna	male	Karnataka, India	Public Affairs
2023	Mulayam Singh Yadav (Posthumous)	male	Uttar Pradesh, India	Public Affairs
2022	Kalyan Singh (Posthumous)	male	Uttar Pradesh, India	Public Affairs
2021	Shinzo Abe (Non-citizen)	male	Tokyo, Japan	Public Affairs
2020	George Fernandes (Posthumous)	male	Bihar, India	Public Affairs
2020	Arun Jaitley (Posthumous)	male	Delhi, India	Public Affairs
2020	Sir Anerood Jugnauth (Non-citizen)	male	Plaines Wilhems, Mauritius	Public Affairs
2020	Sushma Swaraj (Posthumous)	female	Delhi, India	Public Affairs
2019	Ismail Omar Guelleh (Non-citizen)	male	Djibouti, Djibouti	Public Affairs
2017	Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi	male	Uttar Pradesh, India	Public Affairs
2017	Sunder Lal Patwa (Posthumous)	male	Madhya Pradesh, India	Public Affairs
2017	Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar	male	Maharashtra, India	Public Affairs
2017	Purno Agitok Sangma (Posthumous)	male	Meghalaya, India	Public Affairs
2016	Jagmohan Also won: Padma Bhushan	male	Delhi, India	Public Affairs
2015	Kottayan Katankot Venugopal Also won: Padma Bhushan	male	Delhi, India	Public Affairs
2015	Lal Kishinchand Advani	male	Gujarat, India	Public Affairs
2015	Sardar Parkash Singh Badal	male	Punjab, India	Public Affairs
2011	Parasaran Kesava Iyengar Also won: Padma Bhushan	male	Delhi, India	Public Affairs
2011	Montek Singh Ahluwalia	male	Delhi, India	Public Affairs
2011	Dr. Vijay Laxman Kelkar	male	Maharashtra, India	Public Affairs
2011	Dr. Akhlaq Ur Rahman Kidwai	male	Delhi, India	Public Affairs
2010	Dr. Yaga Venugopal Reddy	male	Andhra Pradesh, India	Public Affairs
2009	Govind Narain	male	Uttar Pradesh, India	Public Affairs
2008	Justice Adarsh Sein Anand	male	Uttar Pradesh, India	Public Affairs
2008	Prof. P.N. Dhar	male	Delhi, India	Public Affairs
2008	Pranab Mukherjee	male	Delhi, India	Public Affairs
2007	Fali Sam Nariman Also won: Padma Bhushan	male	Delhi, India	Public Affairs
2007	Justice Prafulla Chandra Bhagwati	male	Delhi, India	Public Affairs
2007	Dr. Raja Jesudoss Chelliah	male	Tamil Nadu, India	Public Affairs
2006	Justice Visheshwar Nath Khare	male	Uttar Pradesh, India	Public Affairs
2005	Milon Kumar Banerji	male	Delhi, India	Public Affairs
2005	Dr. Karan Singh	male	Delhi, India	Public Affairs
2004	Justice Manepalli Narayana Rao Venkatachaliah	male	Karnataka, India	Public Affairs
2003	Kazi Lhendup Dorji Kangsarpa	male	West Bengal, India	Public Affairs
2002	Soli Jehangir Sorabjee	male	Delhi, India	Public Affairs
2001	Benjamin Arthur Gilman (Non-citizen)	male	New York, United States	Public Affairs
2001	Hosei Norota (Non-citizen)	male	Akita, Japan	Public Affairs
2000	Sikander Bakht	male	Delhi, India	Public Affairs
1999	Justice Vaidynathapuram Rama Ayyar Krishna Iyer (Retd.)	male	Kerala, India	Public Affairs
1999	Justice Hans Raj Khanna (Retd.)	male	Delhi, India	Public Affairs
1998	Nani Ardeshir Palkhivala	male	Maharashtra, India	Public Affairs
1998	Dr. Lakshmi Sahgal	female	Uttar Pradesh, India	Public Affairs
1998	Walter Sisulu (Non-citizen)	male	Eastern Cape, South Africa	Public Affairs
1992	Ravi Narayan Reddy (Posthumous)	male	Andhra Pradesh, India	Public Affairs
1992	Sardar Swaran Singh	male	Punjab, India	Public Affairs
1992	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	male	Delhi, India	Public Affairs
1991	Prof. Hirendra Nath Mukerjee Also won: Padma Bhushan	male	West Bengal, India	Public Affairs
1991	Gulzari Lal Nanda	male	Gujarat, India	Public Affairs
1991	Prof. Nayakulu Gogineni Ranga	male	Andhra Pradesh, India	Public Affairs
1989	Umashankar Dikshit	male	Uttar Pradesh, India	Public Affairs
1988	Justice Mirza Hameedullah Beg	male	Delhi, India	Public Affairs
1977	Ali Yavar Jung Also won: Padma Bhushan	male	Andhra Pradesh, India	Public Affairs
1977	Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee	male	West Bengal, India	Public Affairs
1975	Dr. Chintaman Dwarkanath Deshmukh Also won: Ramon Magsaysay Award	male	Maharashtra, India	Public Affairs
1974	Niren De	male	West Bengal, India	Public Affairs
1973	Dr. Nagendra Singh	male	Rajasthan, India	Public Affairs
1972	Dr. Jivraj Narain Mehta	male	Maharashtra, India	Public Affairs
1972	Ghulam Mohd. Sadiq (Posthumous)	male	Jammu and Kashmir, India	Public Affairs
1970	Anthony Lancelot Dias	male	Maharashtra, India	Public Affairs
1968	Dr. Madhav Shrihari Aney	male	Madhya Pradesh, India	Public Affairs
1968	Kuthur Vaidyanatha Kalyana Sundaram	male	Delhi, India	Public Affairs
1967	Chandra Kisan Daphtary	male	Maharashtra, India	Public Affairs
1965	Mehdi Nawaz Jung	male	Telangana, India	Public Affairs
1963	Hari Vinayak Pataskar	male	Maharashtra, India	Public Affairs
1962	Padmaja Naidu	male	Andhra Pradesh, India	Public Affairs
1960	Narayana Raghavan Pillai	male	Tamil Nadu, India	Public Affairs
1959	Dr. Radha Binode Pal	male	West Bengal, India	Public Affairs
1957	Sri Prakasa	male	Uttar Pradesh, India	Public Affairs
1957	Motilal Chimanlal Setalvad	male	Maharashtra, India	Public Affairs
1956	Saiyid Fazl Ali	male	Bihar, India	Public Affairs
1956	Chandulal Madhavlal Trivedi	male	Madhya Pradesh, India	Public Affairs
1954	Dr. Zakir Husain	male	Andhra Pradesh, India	Public Affairs
1954	Bal Gangadhar Kher	male	Maharashtra, India	Public Affairs
1954	Vengalil Krishnan Krishna Menon	male	Kerala, India	Public Affairs
1954	Jigme Dorji Wangchuck (Non-citizen)	male	Thimphu, Bhutan	Public Affairs

Padma Vibhushan Award Winners in Public Affairs Award Chart by Gender

This chart groups 79 Padma Vibhushan Award Winners in Public Affairs winners by Gender, across 2 distinct entries — male leads with 77 wins.

Padma Vibhushan Award Winners in Public Affairs Award Chart by Fields

This chart tracks Padma Vibhushan Award Winners in Public Affairs winners by year from 1954 to 2026, spanning 45 years, with the most wins (4) recorded in 1954.