New Delhi: BJP leader L.K. Advani, spiritual leader and philanthropist Aga Khan, actors Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal are among the nine awarded India’s second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan, Sunday.

Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, journalists Swapan Dasgupta and Rajat Sharma, lawyer Harish Salve, filmmaker Jahnu Barua, former chief election commissioner N.Gopalaswami, wrestler-turned-coach Satpal, and maths “Nobel Prize” winner Manjul Bhargava were among the 20 recipients of the Padma Bhushan, said a home ministry release.

National hockey team captain Sardar Singh was among the five sportspersons chosen for this year’s Padma Shri awards.

Women’s badminton player P.V. Sindhu, former women’s hockey player Saba Anjum, Arunima Sinha — the first woman amputee mountaineer to climb Mount Everest, and Indian women’s cricket team skipper Mithali Raj were the other sportspersons selected for this year’s Padma Shri awards.

The Padma Shri has been awarded to 75 people.