Dr Subramaniam, considered the father of Green Revolution in India, received the award from President KR Narayanan at an impressive investiture ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Freedom fighter Dr Lakshmi Sehgal, Constitutional expert Nani Palkhivala and freedom fighter and social worker Usha H Mehta received the Padma Vibhushan.

Narayanan presented Padma Bhushan to 18 people, including freedom fighter GS Dhillon, and Padma Shri to 30 people. Among the Padma Shri recipients were former hockey captain Pargat Singh, former tennis player Ramesh Krishnan and athlete Shiny Wilson.

Padma Vibhushan awardee Walter Sisulu, a South African national and leader of African National Congress, Padma Bhushan awardee Prof Debi Prasad Chattopadhyaya and Padma Shri awardees Antony Cardinal Padiyara and Zohra Segal did not participate in the ceremony because of various reasons.

Amongthe other Padma Bhushan awardees were space scientist G Madhavan Nair, journalists HK Dua and KM Mathew and former Supreme Court judge VM Tarkunde.

Vijay Kumar Saraswat has been awarded Padma Shri for his contribution to space technology and production of Prithvi, the surface-to-surface missile and strategic weapon system for the country.

The other Padma Bhushan awardees were: Dr Bhisham Sahni (Literature), Dr Gurukumar Bhalchandra Parulkar (Heart surgery), Dr Hem Lata Gupta (Medicine), Dr LM Singhvi (Legal), Dr Maligail Ramakrishna Girinath (Medicine), Dr P Venugopal (Medicine), Dr Rajendra Singh Paroda (Agriculture), Satyapal Dang (Political work), Prof Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar (Science), Dr Udupi Rajagopalachar Ananthamurthy (Literature), Prof Vaidyeswaran Rajaramman (Science) and Dr Vempati Chinna Satyam (Legal).

The Padma Shri awardees: Prof Aditya Naraian Purohit (Science), Anil Kakodkar (Nuclear Engineering), Prof Brijinder Nath Goswamy (History), Chewang Phunsog (CivilService), Dipali Borthakur (Artiste), Gurdial Singh (Literature), Kanta Tyagi (Social work), R Kongbrailatpam Ibomcha Sharma, Krishnarao Ganpatrao Sable (Artiste), Kunja Bihari Meher (Traditional weaving), Lalsangzuali Sailo (Literature), Sister Leonarda Angela Casiraghi (Social Work), Hon. Captain Lila Ram (Sports), Dr Manmohan Attavar (Science) Narayan Gangaram Surve (Literature), Naushad Ismail Padamsee (Business), Ottaplakkal Neelakanta Velu Kurup (Literature), Pradhan Shambhu Saran (Telecom engineering), Prof Priyambada Mohanty-Heimadi (Science and artiste), Ralte Vanlawma (Social work), Prof Ranjit Roy Chaudhury (Medicine), Shambu Nath Khajuria (Social work), Shantha Sinha (Social work), Suryadevara Ramachandra Rao (Civil Service) and Uppalapu Shrinivas (Music).