New Delhi sources stated that former India cricket captain MS Dhoni, ace cueist Pankaj Advani and actor Manoj Joshi were among several noted personalities who received the Padma awards from President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony here today. Meanwhile dressed in an Army uniform, Dhoni marched to the dais to receive Padma Bhushan from the president amid a huge round of applause from the audience.
According to sources Dhoni was conferred with the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel by the Indian Territorial Army in 2011. Moreover Dhoni and Advani, folk artist Sharda Sinha, contemporary Indian artist Laxman Pai and former Ambassador of Russia to India, Alexander Kadakin, were also presented with the Padma Bhushan, the country's third-highest civilian award after Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhushan, by Kovind.
Sources reported that the president presented five Padma Bhushan and 38
Padma Shri awards at the civil investiture ceremony held at the Durbar Hall of
the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra
Mahajan were among several dignitaries present at the function.
