List of Padma Bhushan award recipients (1960–1969)

[1] Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service of a high order", without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex.

[2] The recipients receive a Sanad, a certificate signed by the President of India and a circular-shaped medallion with no monetary association.

[a] A total of 200 awards were presented in the 1960s – ten in 1960, followed by thirteen in 1961, twenty-seven in 1962, twelve in 1963, eighteen in 1964, twenty-five in 1965, fourteen in 1966, twenty-four in 1967, twenty-eight in 1968, and twenty-nine in 1969.

Individuals from nine different fields were awarded, which includes sixty-nine from literature and education, thirty-two from medicine, twenty-two from civil services, seventeen artists, sixteen from public affairs, fifteen from science and engineering, fourteen from social work, ten from trade and industry, and five sportspersons.

Journalist Manikonda Chalapathi Rau and Kannada writer K. Shivaram Karanth returned their 1968 awards, while Sitar player Vilayat Khan refused to accept it, with him stating that "the selection committees were incompetent to judge [his] music".

Portrait of an old man sitting in a chair.
Considered one of the "distinguished figure[s] in the Oriya world of letters", Nilakantha Das (awarded in 1960) was a poet, essayist, critic, educationist, and linguist. [ 8 ] : 541
Black and white photograph of a man playing a flute
Kazi Nazrul Islam (awarded in 1960) is the national poet of Bangladesh . [ 9 ] Nazrul's activism for political and social justice earned him the title of "Rebel Poet" ( Bidrohi Kobi ). [ 10 ]
Colour portrait of a man with beard.
Russian artist Svetoslav Roerich (awarded in 1961), is known for his paintings of Himalayan valleys and portraits. He is the only artist whose three portraits of Jawaharlal Nehru , Indira Gandhi and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan are displayed at the Central Hall of Parliament . [ 11 ]
Black and white photograph of a man sitting in a chair.
Asaf Ali Asghar Fyzee (awarded in 1962), an Indian jurist, educator and scholar is known for his literary works on Ismaili studies and introduced the Ismaili school of jurisprudence. He was the Principal of the Government Law College, Mumbai (1938–47) and Vice Chancellor of the University of Jammu and Kashmir (1957–60). [ 12 ]
Black and white photograph of a man
Hindustani classical vocalist hailing from the Patiala gharana , Khyal singer Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (awarded in 1962) received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Hindustani Vocal Music in 1962 and was elected the Fellow of the Akademi "[f]or his eminence in and service to the cause of music" in 1967. [ 13 ]
Black and white closeup photograph of a young man.
Physicist and academic Sisir Kumar Mitra (awarded in 1962) is considered a pioneer of radio research in India. Apart from holding various teaching positions he was administrator of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education for six years. [ 14 ]
Black and white photograph of a woman in nine-yard saree.
Narayan Shripad Rajhans alias Bal Gandharva (awarded in 1964), is best known for his Indian classical singing and performing female roles in Marathi Sangeet Nataks (musical dramas) drawing mass appeal from middle-class women of his era. [ 15 ]
Close up of a smiling bald man.
Astrophysicist Jayant Narlikar (awarded in 1965) is known for advocating the Steady State theory , an alternative to the prevalent Big Bang model. [ 16 ]
Closeup of an old man smiling at the camera.
Zubin Mehta (awarded in 1966) is a musician and conductor associated with various international orchestras like New York Philharmonic , Israel Philharmonic Orchestra , Bavarian State Opera and has been honoured with American Kennedy Center Honors (2006) and Japanese Praemium Imperiale (2008). [ 17 ]
Black and white photograph of a young woman.
M. L. Vasanthakumari (awarded in 1967) was a Carnatic classical singer and playback singer of various popular Tamil films along with recording songs in Telugu , Malayalam , and Kannada languages. [ 18 ]
Photograph of an old man playing Sarod
Ali Akbar Khan (awarded in 1967) was a Hindustani classical musician , best known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod . Khan was the first Indian musician to receive the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1991 and was nominated for the Grammy Award five time between 1970 and 1998. [ 19 ]
An old bald man.
C. R. Rao (awarded in 1968) is one of the pioneers of modern statistics. He received the National Medal of Science from the President of the United States in 2002. [ 20 ]
Black and white photograph of a man in suit and hat.
Textile industrialist Kasturbhai Lalbhai (awarded in 1969) was a prominent name in pre-independent India ' s business circle and his group of businesses was the tenth largest cotton consumer of India in 1930 and the seventh largest in 1939. [ 21 ]
Black and white photograph of a man
Considered the "Pitamaha" (the grand sire) among Carnatic musicians , [ 22 ] Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer (awarded in 1969) was a Carnatic vocalist and was awarded the Sangeetha Kalanidhi awarded by the Madras Music Academy in 1947. [ 23 ]