Mukherjee presents Padma Awards to Cho Ramaswamy, Kailash Kher

New Delhi April 13 (IANS) Tamil actor editor and political satirist Cho Ramaswamy playback singer Kailash Kher multilingual singer K.J. Yesudas and young sportswomen Dipa Karmakar and Sakshi Malik were among the prominent personalities presented Padma Awards by President Pranab Mukherjee here on Thursday.

In all 89 personalities were presented the awards that were announced on Republic Day-eve this year. Mukherjee presented the awards at a Civil Investiture Ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Padma Awards -- the highest civilian awards of India -- are categorised as Padma Vibhushan Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. Padma Vibhushan is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service Padma Bhushan is given for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri for distinguished service in the field of art social work public affairs science and engineering trade and industry medicine literature and education sports civil service and others. --IANS sk/vgu/dg