Brajesh Mishra, Surendra Singh and Shyam Saran among prominent civil servants winning Padma awards

HERE are some of the prominent Indian civil servants who have received the Padma awards, India’s highest civilian awards, announced on the eve of the Republic Day.

Brajesh Mishra: Won Padma Vibhushan. Mishra, a former Indian Foreign Service officer, was the country’s first National Security Advisor under former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was the first non-IAS principal secretary to the Prime Minister of India.

Surendra Singh: Won Padma Bhushan. An IAS of 1959 batch, Singh retired in 1996 as cabinet secretary. He had also served as secretary (industry) and secretary (company affairs), special secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office and special secretary in the ministry of commerce. After retiring from the IAS, Singh served as Executive Director on the Board of the World Bank.

MN Buch: Won Padma Bhushan. An IAS of 1957 batch, Buch held a number of senior posts under the state government in the state of Madhya Pradesh and in the Centre.

Shyam Saran: Won Padma Bhushan. A 1970 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Saran was foreign secretary in the Government of India. He had also served as Indian Ambassador to Nepal, Indian Ambassador to Indonesia and Indian Ambassador to Myanmar, High Commissioner to Mauritius, joint secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, Deputy Chief of Mission in Tokyo and Counsellor in the Indian Embassy in Beijing.

Narayan Singh Bhati from Andhra Pradesh and PK Sen from Bihar have won the Padma Sri in civil services category.