Padma Vibhushan for Jaitley, Sushma, Fernandes posthumously; Parrikar given Padma Bhushan

Former union ministers Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and George Fernandes, Olympian boxer Mary Kom and former Mauritius prime minister Anerood Jugnauth were among seven prominent personalities awarded the Padma Vibhushan on Saturday, the Home Ministry announced.

Famous classical bhajan singer from Varanasi Channulal Mishra and Vishveshateertha Swamiji Sri Pejavara Adhokhaja Matha Udupi, who passed away recently, have also been given the highest Padma award--Padma Vibhushan.

Former defence minister Manohar Parrikar, industrialists Anand Mahindra and Venu Shrinivasan, Olympian badminton player P V Sindhu, former Nagaland chief minister S C Jamir and Jammu and Kashmir politician Muzaffar Hussain Baig have been awarded the Padma Bhushan, a home ministry statement said.

The awards are announced on the eve of Republic Day.

Jaitley, Swaraj, Fernandes, Parrikar and Vishwesha Teertha Swami have been awarded posthumously, the officials said.

This year the President has approved conferment of 141 Padma awards including four duo cases (in a duo case, the award is counted as one), the statement said.

"Thirty four of the awardees are women and the list also includes 18 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 12 posthumous awardees," it said.

Padma Awards - one of the highest civilian Awards--are conferred in three categories--Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.

Sixteen people have been given the Padma Bhushan and 118 the 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.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Padma awardees, saying they include extraordinary people.

"Congratulations to all those who have been conferred the Padma Awards," he tweeted.

From Bollywood, filmmakers Karan Johar and Ekta Kapoor and actor Kangana Ranaut have been awarded Padma Shri.

Singers Suresh Wadkar and Adnan Sami, as well as veteran TV actor Sarita Joshi have been conferred with the fourth highest civilian award of the country.

Six sports persons including cricketer Zaheer Khan, current Indian women's hockey captain Rani Rampal, former Indian men's hockey player M P Ganesh, shooter Jitu Rai, former Indian women's football team captain Oinam Bembem Devi and archer Tarundeep Rai have been given Padma Shri.

Naukri.com founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani, industrialist Bharat Goenka, technocrat Nemnath Jain have been conferred the Padma Shri.

The award has also been given to Lucknow-based historian and journalist Yogesh Praveen and Assam-based historian Jogendra Nath Phukan have been awarded Padma Shri