Five individuals from Varanasi were conferred with Padma awards by President Droupadi Murmu on Monday during the first civil investiture ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The awards comprised one Padma Vibhushan and four Padma Shri. The President presented 66 of the 131 approved Padma awards for the year.
Padma Vibhushan Recipient
The Padma Vibhushan was awarded to N Rajam, a renowned violin virtuoso. She served with distinction as a professor in the faculty of performing arts at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) for nearly four decades. Rising to become the head of the department and subsequently the dean of the faculty, she earned the prestigious title of 'Emeritus Professor' by BHU.
Padma Shri Awardees
Kumar Bose, an eminent exponent of the tabla in contemporary Indian classical music, received the Padma Shri. A foremost torchbearer of the Banaras Gharana, Bose is the son of the legendary tabla maestro Acharya Biswanath Bose and a disciple of Padma Vibhushan awardee Pandit Kishan Maharaj, one of the most influential figures of the Banaras Gharana.
Prof Buddha Rashmi Mani, former director general of the National Museum, New Delhi, and vice chancellor of the Indian Institute of Heritage, government of India, was honoured with the Padma Shri. He is widely recognised globally as one of the finest excavators, art critics, epigraphists, and numismatists. His multifaceted expertise in archaeology has brought about a paradigm shift in understanding India's past.
Ashok Kumar Singh, an eminent researcher whose pioneering contributions have transformed Basmati rice cultivation in India, received the Padma Shri.
Prof Shyam Sundar, a distinguished professor (Hon) of medicine at the Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), received the Padma Shri. He is an internationally acclaimed clinician-scientist in infectious diseases, particularly visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar). Over four decades, he has seamlessly combined patient care, teaching, and translational research, establishing BHU as a globally recognised centre for research on kala-azar, a neglected tropical disease. Prof Sundar, a BHU faculty member, set up a charity field unit—the Kala-azar Medical Research Centre (KAMRC)—in Muzaffarpur in 1993, which provides free diagnosis, treatment, food, and travel expenses to underserved populations. KAMRC has now become a model for clinical research, with high impact on national policies in the diagnosis and treatment of kala-azar globally.
