Vani Jairam To KC Runremsangi , These 16 Women Are 2023 Padma Awardee

President Murmu honoured Padma Awardees at Civil Investiture Ceremony-I at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. The 2023 Padma awardees list was announced on the occasion of Republic Day, out of which 16 women were honoured with Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. These women did exemplary work in their respective fields. Most of them come from socio-economically weaker sections of society, they fought their hurdles to make it big and today their efforts and hard work were recognised and rewarded.

 Women Padma Awardee 2023

Vani Jairam 

Veteran singer Vani Jairam was recently awarded Padma Bhushan for her contribution to music. Jairam started her career in 1971 and went on to become one of the best playback singers in South Indian cinema. She recorded over 10,000 songs in various languages over the span of five decades. She was born into a Tamil family of classically trained musicians. 

Suman Hemmady Kalyanpur

Suman Hemmady Kalyanpur one of the most respected singers was often mistaken to be Lata Mangeshkar for her voice. She entered the world of music in 1954, She contributed to music in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, Assamese, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Rajasthani, Bengali, Odia, and Punjabi. She was born in Bangladesh but belonged to Kundapur Taluk of Udupi District, Karnataka, her father's hometown. Her most popular song included Zindagi imtehan leti hai and Aajkal Tere Mere Pyaar Ke Charche. 

Sudha Murty 

Sudha Murty is an Indian educator, author, philanthropist, and chairperson of the Infosys Foundation. She also received the Padma Shri and is now awarded, Padma Bhushan.  

Jodhaiya Bai Baiga 

Jodhaiya Bai Baiga is an Indian fine artist who hails from Lorha village, Umaria district, Madhya Pradesh. Her livelihood came from selling compost, firewood, and nuts from the forest. After her spouse died, she confined herself to art to find solitude and get rid of her pain. Whatever she observed, painted on canvas, paper, clay, metal, and wood. Her paintings were exhibited in Milan and Paris. She received the Nari Shakti Puraskar in recognition of her achievements and now Padma Shri. 

Usha Barle

Usha Barle is a Pandwani singer, who was honoured with Padma Shri for her contribution to the field of Pandwani singing. She performed Pandwani in various states of India as well as cities like London and New York. At age of 7, she started to learn and perform Pandwani, and learnt from the queen of Pandwani Teejanbai. Pandwani might be as old as the Mahabharata itself, exclusively by men. Since the 1980s, women also began to present Pandavani. It means narrating the stories or songs of the Pandavas. 

Hemoprova Chutia

Hemoprova Chutia is a weaver, who wove the Bhagavad Gita a 700-verse Hindu scripture in Sanskrit into silk in the English language into a piece of cloth 280 feet in length and 2 feet wide. over a period of two years. Hemoprova Chutia also weaved the Naam Ghosa created in the 16th century. For her expertise in weaving, she received many laurels including the Assam Gaurav award, Bakul Bon Award, Aai Kanaklata Award, and now Padma Shri. She weaved on fabrics including cotton, silk, wool, and fine-cut bamboo pieces. Chutia hails from Moran in the Dibrugarh district of Assam.

Subhadra Devi

Subhadra Devi is an artist from Salemnpur village, Madhubani District, Bihar. Her Paper Mache artwork has put Madhubani on the global map. Her designs are even sold off in foreign countries. 82-year-old learnt the skill of making Paper Mache from her forefathers in her childhood. Paper Mache is a composite material consisting of paper pieces or pulp used to make artifacts.

Pritikana Goswami

Pritikana Goswami is awarded Padma Shri for her exemplary work in Nakshi Kantha. Goswami hails from Sonarpur, Bengal. Goswami sells her handiwork abroad as well as teaches the skill to the younger generation across the globe. Goswami had her own struggles, She was 10 when her father died leaving behind a family of six. Today with her hard work and the support of local organisations she completed her studies and with her skills came out of poverty. She also received National Award from President Abdul Kalam Azad for her work.

Hirbai Ibrahim Lobi

Hirbai Ibrahim Lobi, a Siddi tribe woman from Jambur village of Junagadh honoured with the Padma Shri award for the upliftment and development of the Siddi tribal community.

Hirbai hails from the African-origin Siddi tribe that resides in the Gir forest in Gujarat. Lobi's teacher was her radio, from where she received information about women’s development schemes and applied them in her community. She joined Agakhan Foundation and worked in the community. She taught over 700 women to open bank accounts and save money.

Rani Machaiah

Rani Machaiah also known as Ummathat ki Rani is a Ummathat folk dancer, a dance form from Karnataka’s Kodagu district. She was honoured for her efforts in promoting and preserving Kodava culture through dance. She trained nearly 10,000 women artists in the Ummathat folk dance.

Dr Nalini Parthasarathy

Dr. Nalini Parthasarathy bagged the Padma Shri award for her commitment to people with haemophilia. She is a former professor of paediatrics at JIPMER and found haemophilia Society in Puducherry and serving for the last 30 years.

Krishna Patel

Krishna Patel is a ">popular folk singer known for her Sambalpuri cult-song Rangabati Rangabati with Jitendriya Haripa and agriculturist Patayat Sahu.

Sujatha Ramdorai

Sujatha Ramdorai is an algebraic number theorist known for her work on the Iwasawa theory. She is a professor of mathematics and Canada Research Chair at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Also worked at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and holds an adjunct professorship position at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune.

Neihunuo Sorhie

Neihunuo Sorhie is Nagaland's master weaver selected for the Padma Shri award. She has been on a mission to teach the next generation the skills she learnt as a young girl. Sorhie lives in the Kohima district is from the Angami community and took the art of weaving at the age of four from her mother. So far, trained over 300 local Naga women including school dropouts, widows, children, and students in loin loom weaving, knitting, and beadwork.

Coomi Wadia

Coomi Wadia was honoured for her achievements as a choir singer. She is a pianist with two diplomas from The Trinity College of London. The Paranjoti Academy Chorus to which Coomi Wadia is affiliated is the only choir that has gone on concert tours abroad.

K.C. Runremsangi 

K.C. Runremsangi received the Padma Shri award for her contribution to Mizoram Folk Music. She also received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for her contribution to the Folk Music of Mizoram in 2017.

Raveena Tandon 

Raveena Tandon received Padma Shri for her contribution to Indian Cinema. She has been the most adored actor of her time, she gave some memorable performances.

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