Padma Vibhushan for Sharad Pawar, Murli Manohar Joshi and Mufti Mohammed Sayeed

NEW DELHI: This year's Padma awardees may include around a dozen ‘unsung heroes,’ as per the directive of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with politicians Sharad Pawar, Murli Manohar Joshi, the late Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and Olympic medal winners.

According to a government representative, Sharad Pawar, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed (posthumous) and Murli Manohar Joshi are likely to get Padma Vibushan.

Awardees for other category include badminton player PV Sindhu, other Olympic medal winners and cricketer Virat Kohli.

Perhaps for the first time, around 10-12 ‘unsung heroes,’ who have done commendable work in ecology, sanitation, agriculture and similar fields are likely to figure in the awardees’ list. This has been done on the suggestion of the Prime Minister.

People were chosen from various professions and regions of the country from around 16,000 applications received. The list was pruned to 4,500 from the original before the awardees were finalised. The list of Padma awardees this year includes around 160 names.

Veteran actor Waheeda Rehman and badminton player P Gopichand were part of the jury that selected the winners.