Isro Chief, Rohit Sharma were in 2022 long list but didn't get Padma Awards

Indian Space Research Organisation chairman S Somnath, cricket captain Rohit Sharma and former science and technology department secretary Ashutosh Sharma were among 14 persons recommended for Padma awards by a government search panel, but did not make it to the final list announced on the eve of Republic Day 2022.

The names were made public as the Union home ministry invited nominations for 2023 Padma awards. The online nomination is open till September 15, 2022. Among sports people recommended for 2022 Padmas were Olympic gold medal athlete Neeraj Chopra, wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya and boxer Lovlina Borgohain, but only Chopra made it to the honours list. Dahiya and Borgohain bagged silver and bronze medals, respectively, at the Tokyo Olympics.

The government panel was led by former secretary Satpal Chouhan and had joint secretaries of various central ministries. Among agriculture scientists Rajendra Paroda and Bakshi Ram were endorsed while rail engineer Sudhanshu Mani, AIIMS professor Alok Thakkar, eminent author Gurucharan Das and Indian entrepreneur Krishna Das were other names recommended by the search committee.


Padma Awards are conferred on the recommendations made by the Padma Awards Committee, which is constituted by the prime minister every year.