125-year-old Yoga Guru Swami Sivananda gets Padma Shri; PM Narendra Modi bows down in front of him

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 to the field of Yoga. Swami Sivananda, known as Yog Sevak, received Padma Shri today and bowed down in front of the President and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Padma Awards, one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.

The Awards are given in various disciplines/ fields of activities, viz. art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.

`Padma Vibhushan` is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; `Padma Bhushan` for distinguished service of high order and `Padma Shri` for distinguished service in any field.

The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year. These awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhavan usually around March/ April every year.

This year the President has approved conferment of 128 Padma Awards including two duo cases (in a duo case, the Award is counted as one).The list comprises 4 Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 107 Padma Shri awards. 34 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 13 posthumous awardees.