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The President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu presented 3 Padma Vibhushan, 8 Padma Bhushan and 55 Padma Shri Awards for the year 2024.

About Padma Awards

The Padma Awards are among India’s most prestigious civilian honors.
It is announced annually on Republic Day, following the Bharat Ratna.
These awards are designed to recognize outstanding achievements across various fields and disciplines, particularly those involving public service.
It was introduced in 1954 along with Bharat Ratna.
Initially, the Padma Vibhushan had three classes: Pahela Varg, Dusra Varg, and Tisra Varg, which were renamed in 1955 as Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri, respectively.

There are three categories of Padma Awards:

Padma Vibhushan: This is awarded for ‘exceptional and distinguished service.’
Padma Bhushan: This is for ‘distinguished service of a high order.’
Padma Shri: This is given for ‘distinguished service.’

The awards are open to all individuals regardless of race, occupation, position, or gender.
The awards are usually not given posthumously, but exceptions can be made in extraordinary cases.
A recipient can be considered for a higher category of Padma award only if at least five years have passed since their previous Padma honor. However, exceptions can be made for exceptionally deserving cases.
NOT ELIGIBLE: Government employees, except doctors and scientists.
The awards are not titles and cannot be used as prefixes or suffixes to the awardees’ names.
The number of awards given annually (excluding posthumous awards and those to NRIs/foreigners/OCIs) is capped at 120.

Nominations are reviewed by the Padma Awards Committee, formed annually by the Prime Minister.
The Committee, led by the Cabinet Secretary, includes the Home Secretary, Secretary to the President, and 4-6 distinguished members.
The Committee’s recommendations are forwarded to the Prime Minister and the President for final approval.

	Recipient (Occupation/Field)
Padma Vibhushan	M. Venkaiah Naidu (Former Vice-President) Bindeshwar Pathak (posthumously) (Founder of Sulabh International) Padma Subrahmanyam (Bharatanatyam dancer)
Padma Bhushan	Mithun Chakraborty (Actor) Usha Uthup (Singer) Ram Naik (Former Governor of Uttar Pradesh) Sitaram Jindal (Industrialist) Tejas Madhusudan Patel (Cardiologist) Dattatray Ambadas Mayaloo (Rajdutt) (Marathi film director) Chandreshwar Prasad Thakur (Physician)
Padma Shri	Rohan Bopanna (Tennis player) Khalil Ahamad (Master carpet weaver) Kaluram Bamaniya (Folk singer) Rezwana Choudhury Bannya (Bangladeshi singer) Naseem Bano (Chikankari embroidery artist) Gita Roy Barman (Rajbongshi folk singer) Chitta Ranjan Debbarma (Spiritual figure from Tripura) Sarbeswar Basumatary (Tribal farmer from Assam)

[2021] Consider the following statements in respect of the Bharat Ratna and Padma Awards.

Bharat Ratna and Padma Awards are titled under Article 18(1) of the Constitution of India.
Padma Awards, which were instituted in the year 1954, were suspended only once.
The number of Bharat Ratna Awards is restricted to a maximum of five in a particular year.

Which of the above statements is not correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3