Mohammed Sharif (80) from Uttar Pradesh received Padma Shri for his social work and service to humanity. A bicycle mechanic Sharif has been performing the last rites of thousands of unclaimed dead bodies for the last 25 years.
Jagdish Lal Ahuja (84) from Punjab has been selflessly organizing langar for 500 plus poor patients daily for over two decades.
Harekala Hajabba (64) is a humble fruit vendor who devoted his life and life’s earnings towards educating others.
Trinity Saioo (52) spearheaded the women-led turmeric farming movement in Meghalaya, enabling the women farmers to triple their incomes.
Satyanarayan Mundayoor (69) is a Keralite who has devoted his life to the joy of reading in Arunachal and helped in affordable education in Arunachal Pradesh.
Popatrao Pawar (60) who transformed a drought prone village into a green model village in Maharashtra received the Padma Shri for social work in the field of water conservation.
Radha Mohan (76) and Sabarmatee (47), a Gandhian father-daughter duo of farmers have converted a piece of degraded land into a vast ‘food forest’ using only organic techniques.
Tulasi Gowda (72) is a Halakki Tribal woman known for possessing endless knowledge of plants and herbs. She was selected for the award for her social work in environment in Karnataka.
Usha Chaumar (53), former manual scavenger, who through decades of service, has become president of Sulabh International, at the forefront of environment sanitation in Rajasthan.
Kushal Konwar Sarma (60) is an extraordinary elephant doctor, helping Asia’s endangered elephants. Sarma received Padma Shri for his services as a veterinary in Assam.
Arunoday Mondal (66) has been tirelessly providing medical aid and affordable healthcare to the needy in remote Sunderbans in West Bengal for two decades.
Ravi Kannan (55) is a Silchar’s savior and a medical messiah. A surgical oncologist from Chennai who has treated over 70,000 cancer patients free of cost in Barak Valley, transforming the rural cancer centre into a full-fledged hospital and research centre. He provided not only treatment but accommodation, food, employment and spread awareness. He launched innovative measures for healthcare at doorstep including home visits and satellite clinics. He quit job in Chennai and shifted to Assam with family in 2007 to make healthcare accessible in the Barak Valley, before this the nearest hospital was over 300 km away.
Rahibai Soma Popere (56), a self-taught tribal woman from Maharashtra famous globally for her work in agro bio-diversity conservation, particularly of indigenous varieties. She was awarded the Padma Shri for organic agriculture.
Abdul Jabbar (63) from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh is a man who fought for fair treatment and rehabilitation of Bhopal Gas tragedy survivors for over three decades. He was one of the recipients of this prestigious honour.
Sundaram Verma (68) received the Padma Shri for afforestation in Rajasthan. Doing amazing work, Verma has planted 50,000 trees in arid areas of Rajasthan with 100 per cent survival rate, using just one litre of water per tree.
S Ramakrishnan (65) from Tamil Nadu bagged the prestigious award in the social work (Divyang) category. This neck-down fully paralysed social worker is India’s biggest name in rehabilitation of differently abled people.
Himmata Ram Bhambhu (63) has done enormous environmental work while planting lakhs of trees in the desert areas of Rajasthan.
Yogi Aeron (81) has been treating burn and bite victims for free in the Himalayas for over 35 years. Yogi received the Padma Shri for providing affordable healthcare in Uttarakhad.
