Padma Awards 2026: the year's public life and governance honourees
The Padma Awards 2026 recognised leaders from public affairs and civil service, including Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Shibu Soren, VK Malhotra, K Vijay Kumar and others for long careers in public life.
The Padma Awards 2026 recognised a group of figures from public life, politics and the civil service, honouring careers spent in governance, administration and public institutions. Recognised in the fields of public affairs and civil service, this group includes former office holders and long serving public figures, several of them honoured posthumously.
Public life is a regular presence on the Padma lists, reflecting the value placed on service to the state and its institutions.
The public life honourees
In the Padma Bhushan tier, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, a veteran public figure who has held high constitutional office, was recognised in public affairs. Vellappally Natesan of Kerala, a long standing community and social leader, was also honoured in public affairs. The list further includes Shibu Soren of Jharkhand, the veteran tribal leader and former Chief Minister, honoured posthumously, and V K Malhotra of Delhi, a long serving public figure, also recognised posthumously.
Among the Padma Shri honourees in this area are the former senior police officer K Vijay Kumar of Tamil Nadu, known for a distinguished career in the security services, the civil servant R V S Mani of Delhi, and Kabindra Purkayastha of Assam, honoured posthumously for a life in public affairs.
How public service is recognised through the Padma Awards
Readers sometimes question why politicians and officials appear on civilian honours lists. The Padma Awards recognise distinguished service across fields, and public affairs and the civil service are treated as legitimate arenas of distinguished service in their own right.
The recognition tends to focus on long careers and institution building rather than on partisan achievement, and a significant share of these honours is conferred posthumously, as a summation of a life spent in public service. The aim is to acknowledge sustained contribution to the working of the state and its institutions.
Together, the 2026 public life honourees reflect the many forms that service to the nation can take, from elected office to the police service to administration. Their recognition rounds out a Padma list that, taken as a whole, honours achievement across nearly every field of national life.