New Delhi, Jan 25: Noted music composer Illaiyaraja, Hindutava thinker Parameswaran Parameswaran, former Indian cricket team captain M S Dhoni were among 85 people chosen for the prestigious Padma awards of 2018.

Among the awardees, 16 are from the category of foreigners, non-resident Indians and three are posthumous.

74-year-old Illaiyaraja, who has been conferred with Padma Bhushan in 2009, was selected for Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award after Bharat Ratna.

Padma Vibhushan

Illaiyaraja

Ghulam Mustafa Khan

P. Parameswaran

Padma Bhushan

Pankaj Advani

Philipose Mar Chrysostom

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Alexander Kadakin (Foreigner/Posthumous)

R. Nagaswamy

Ved Prakash Nanda (Overseas Citizen of India)

Laxman Pai

Arvind Parikh

Sharda Sinha

Padma Shri

Abhay and Rani Bang

Damodar Ganesh Bapat

Prafulla Govinda Baruah

Mohan Swaroop Bhatia

Sudhanshu Biswas

Saikhom Mirabai Chanu

Pandit Shyamlal Chaturvedi

Jose Ma Joey Concepcion III (Foreigner)

Langpoklakpam Subadani Devi

Somdev Devvarman

Yeshi Dhoden

Arup Kumar Dutta

Doddarange Gowda

Arvind Gupta

Digamber Hansda

Ramli Bin Ibrahim (Foreigner)

Anwar Jalalpuri (Posthumous)

Piyong Temjen Jamir

Sitavva Joddati

Malti Joshi

Manoj Joshi

Rameshwarlal Kabra

Pran Kishore Kaul

Bounlap Keokangna (Foreigner)

Vijay Kichlu

Tommy Koh (Foreigner)

Lakshmikutty

Joyshree Goswami Mahanta

Narayan Das Maharaj

Pravakara Maharana

Hun Many (Foreigner)

Nouf Marwaai (Foreigner)

Zaverilal Mehta

Krishna Bihari Mishra

Sisir Purushottam Mishra

Subhasini Mistry

Tomio Mizokami (Foreigner)

Somdet Phra Maha Muniwong (Foreigner)

Keshav Rao Musalgaonkar

Thant Myint – U (Foreigner)

V Nanammal

Sulagitti Narasamma

Vijayalakshmi Navaneethakrishnan

I Nyoman Nuarta (Foreigner)

Malai Haji Abdullah Bin Malai Haji Othman (Foreigner)

Gobaradhan Panika

Bhabani Charan Pattanaik

Murlikant Petkar

Habibullo Rajabov (Foreigner)

M R Rajagopal

Sampat Ramteke (Posthumous)

Chandra Sekhar Rath

S S Rathore

Amitava Roy

Sanduk Ruit (Foreigner)

R Sathyanarayana

Pankaj M Shah

Bhajju Shyam

Maharao Raghuveer Singh

Kidambi Srikanth

Ibrahim Sutar

Siddeshwara Swamiji

Lentina Ao Thakkar

Vikram Chandra Thakur

Rudrapatnam Narayanaswamy Tharanathan - Rudrapatnam Narayanaswamy Thyagarajan

Nguyen Tien Thien

Bhagirath Prasad Tripathi

Rajagopalan Vasudevan

Manas Bihari Verma

Panatawane Gangadhar Vithobaji

Romulus Whitaker

Baba Yogendra

A Zakia

Noted Hindustani classical singer Ghulam Mustafa Khan, president of Vivekananda Kendra Kanyakumari Parameswaran Parameswaran from Kerala were honoured with Padma Vibhushan.

Dhoni, cueist Pankaj Advani, former Russian Ambassador to India late Alexander Kadakin, Hindustani classical musician Arvind Parikh, Tamil Nadu-based archaeologist Ramachandran Nagaswamy and Goan artist Laxman Pai were among nine prominent personalities who were honoured with Padma Bhushan.

Keeping its promise of honouring "unsung heroes", thegovernment honoured with Padma awards several personalitieswho served the poor, set up free schools and popularisedtribal arts globally.

Lakshmikutty, a tribal woman from Kerala, who prepares500 herbal medicine from memory and help thousands of peopleespecially in snake and insect bite cases, is among theawardees.

She teaches at Kerala Folklore Academy and lives in asmall hut made of palm leaves roof in tribal settlement in aforest. She is the only tribal woman from her area to attendschool in the 1950s.

Arvind Gupta, an IIT Kanpur alumnus who inspiredgenerations of students to learn science from thrash, has alsobeen honoured with Padma Shri.

Gupta visited 3,000 schools in four decades, made 6,200short films on toy-making in 18 languages and also hostedpopular TV show Tarang in 1980s.

Internationally-acclaimed Gond artist Bhajju Shyam hasalso been awarded the Padma Shri.

Shyam is famous for depicting Europe through Gondpaintings, a tribal style of painting of Madhya Pradesh. Bornin a poor tribal family, he worked as a night guard andelectrician to support family before becoming a professionalartist.

His 'The London Jungle Book' sold 30,000 copies and itwas published in five foreign languages.

Noted Kashmir theatre artist Pran Kishore Kaul, who shotto fame with his screen play of famous TV serial Gul GulshanGulfaam, has been awarded Padma Shri.

West Bengal's Sudhanshu Biswas, a 99-year-old freedomfighter who serves poor, runs school and orphanages and setup free school for poor, is also among the winners.

Kerala's medical messiah to terminally ill, M RRajagopal, has also been honoured with Padma Shri.

Rajagopal has specialised in pain relief care for neonatal cases.

Since last year, the Modi government has been honouring"unsung heroes" with the Padma awards to recognise people whohave dedicated their lives to working for the poor or haverisen from deprived backgrounds to excel in their own fields.

Maharashtra's Murlikant Petkar, India's first para-Olympic gold medalist, who lost his arm in 1965 Indo-Pak war,is another winner of the Padma Shri.

Tamil Nadu's Rajagopalan Vasudevan, who is known asplastic road-maker of India, developed a patented andinnovative method to reuse plastic waste to construct roads,has also been given the Padma Shri.

Subhasini Mistry, a poor lady from rural West Bengal, whotoiled 20 years as housemaid and daily labourer to build ahospital for poor in the state, is another awardee.

Nonagenarian farm labourer Sulagatti Narasamma, whoprovides midwifery services in backward region of Karnatakawithout any medical facility, too was awarded the Padma Shri.

Vijayalakshmi Navaneethakrishnan, an acclaimed Tamil folkexponent, who has dedicated her life towards collection,documentation and preservation of Tamil folk and tribal music,has also been given Padma Shri.

Another awardee is Yeshi Dhoden, monk physician ofTibetan herbal medicine working in remote areas of HimachalPradesh.