Yoga Legend Swami Sivananda conferred with Padma Shri Award 2022 by President Kovind

In a significant development, Swami Sivananda, a 125-year-old Yoga guru from Kashi, on Monday, received his Padma Shri award from President Ram Nath Kovind for his contribution in the field of Yoga. Swami Sivananda, who is also known as Yog Sevak, received the Padma Shri on March 21 and bowed down in front of the President and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the prestigious honour to the Yoga legend at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Swami Sivananda has been practising and teaching yoga at Kashi's ghats for over three decades. He continues to serve all around him, despite his humble origins. The prestigious honour has made him perhaps the oldest Padma award winner in the history of the country. 

President of India's office, on Monday, took to Twitter and posted a picture with the Yoga legend. He wrote, "President Kovind presents Padma Shri to Swami Sivananda for Yoga. Dedicating his life for human welfare, he has been serving leprosy-affected people at Puri for the past 50 years. Born in 1896, his healthy & long life has drawn attention of national & international organisations."

Padma Awards 2022

A total of 119 Padma Awards were presented by President Kovind this year. The list of award winners comprised of seven Padma Vibhushan awardees, 16 Padma Bhusan, and 102 Padma Shri Awards. Out of the 119, a total of 29 winners are women, 16 are posthumous awardees and one is a transgender awardee.

On Monday, a 91-year-old woman who organised Cloth Bank for Kutch flood victims, an 82-year-old orthopaedic surgeon fighting against polio, and a 33-year-old martial artist from Bandipora district from Kashmir were awarded Padma Shri in the clutch of being 'unsung and unique heroes'. 

Furthermore, a total of nine sportspersons including the Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Neeraj Chopra were also conferred the Padma Awards. Paralympic legend Devendra Jhajaria, who brought silver glory home during the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, was conferred with the third-highest civilian award in India, Padma Bhushan on Monday. 

Tokyo Paralympics 2020 double medallist, shooter Avani Lekhara received the Padma Shri award in the sports category for her fabulous display during last year’s Paralympics. Alongside Jhajharia and Avani, gold medal-winning javelin thrower Sumit Anil, gold-medalist in badminton Pramod Bhagat were the other Paralympic medalists to be conferred with the honour.

Image: Twitter/@rashtrapatibhvn