New Delhi, Jan 25: Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister late Kalyan Singh and India's first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat who died in a helicopter crash recently were awarded Padma Vibhushan on Tuesday, while veteran Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and former West Bengal CM and CPI(M) leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee were given Padma Bhushan.

Cyrus Poonawalla of the Serum Institute of India, which manufactured COVID-19 vaccine Covishield, and Krishna Ella and Suchitra Ella of Bharat Biotech, which produced India's indigenous coronavirus vaccine Covaxin, were also given Padma Bhushan.

Kalyan Singh and General Rawat were given Padma Vibhushan, the country's second-highest civilian award, posthumously.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were conferred Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award.

Late Punjabi folk singer Gurmeet Bawa, actor Victor Banerjee and former Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi have been awarded Padma Bhushan.

Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra and singer Sonu Nigam were awarded Padma Shri.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the President approved conferment of 128 Padma Awards, including two duo cases, this year. In a duo case, the award is counted as one.

The list comprises 4 Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 107 Padma Shri awards. Thirty-four of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 13 posthumous awardees.

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Hyderabad (PTI): Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, will attend the GOAT India Tour event featuring football legend Lionel Messi at the RGI Cricket Stadium here on Saturday evening, Telangana Congress sources said.

A friendly match will be played between the two teams -- Singareni RR9 and Aparna-Messi All Stars. These two teams will be playing a 15-20 minute friendly match and five minutes before the game, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, a football enthusiast and Messi will join and will dribble the ball together.

Rahul Gandhi will land here on a special flight at 4.30 PM and will proceed to Taj Falaknuma Palace Hotel where Messi will be staying.

After watching the game, Gandhi will leave for the national capital by 10.30 PM.

Elaborate security arrangements are being made for the event at the RGI Cricket stadium.

Rachakonda Police Commissioner Sudheer Babu said security would be provided with 3,000 personnel.