Padma Vibhushan to five, including Chiranjeevi and Venkaiah Naidu

New Delhi: Former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, actors Vyjayantimala Bali and Chiranjeevi, Sulabh International founder the late Bindeshwar Pathak and Bharatanatyam dancer Padma Subrahmanyam were on Thursday conferred with the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian honour in India.

Actor Mithun Chakraborty, Foxconn Chairman Young Liu from Taiwan, BJP veteran Ram Naik, actor late Vijaykanth, singer Usha Uthup and philanthropist Kiran Nadar were also awarded the coveted civilian awards on the eve of 75th Republic Day.

The government already announced on Tuesday that it would confer the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award, on two-time Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur posthumously.

Padma Bhushan was awarded to 17 prominent persons including two Keralites namely the late Supreme Court judge Fathima Beevi and BJP leader O Rajagopal.

Tennis player Rohan Bopanna, Nadar, hockey player Harbinder Singh, professional squash player Joshna Chinappa, first person of Indian origin elected to the Parliament of Papua New Guinea Sasindran Muthuvel, and banker Kalpana Morparia are among 110 personalities awarded Padma Shri.

"Padma Vibhushan' is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; Padma Bhushan' for distinguished service of high order and Padma Shri' for distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on the occasion of the Republic Day every year," an official statement said.

It said President Droupadi Murmu has approved conferment of 132 Padma Awards including 30 women and eight persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and nine posthumous awardees.