Republic Day 2018: 97-Year-Old Midwife Among Padma Shri Awardees

Keeping its promise of honouring "unsung heroes", the government on Thursday announced Padma Shri awards for personalities who served the poor, set up free schools and popularised tribal arts globally.

Among the Padma Shri awardees this year is a 97-year-old midwife. Sulagatti Narasamma has the unique talent of checking a baby's pulse in the womb, position of the head and the baby's health. She provides services to all poor people without charging a fee and has been involved in over 15000 traditional deliveries.

Lakshmikutty, a tribal woman from Kerala, who prepares 500 herbal medicine from memory and help thousands of people especially in snake and insect bite cases, is among the awardees. She teaches at Kerala Folklore Academy and lives in a small hut made of palm leaves roof in tribal settlement in a forest. She is the only tribal woman from her area to attend school in the 1950s.

Since last year, the Modi government has been honouring "unsung heroes" with the Padma awards to recognise people who have dedicated their lives to working for the poor or have risen 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 as plastic road-maker of India, developed a patented and innovative method to reuse plastic waste to construct roads, has also been given the Padma Shri.

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

Another awardee is Yeshi Dhoden, monk physician of Tibetan herbal medicine working in remote areas of Himachal Pradesh.

Here are some the awardees this year: