Padma Awards 2026: Alka Yagnik Honoured By President Droupadi Murmu; Touches PM Modi's Feet

The Padma Awards 2026’s second civil investiture ceremony was held on Tuesday (June 23) at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, where the President, Droupadi Murmu, felicitated the remaining winners of this year. Popular Indian singer Alka Yagnik was honoured with the prestigious Padma Bhushan award for her outstanding contribution to the Indian music industry. The Bollywood singer graced the prestigious ceremony in a traditional outfit and received the honour from Droupadi Murmu in the presence of politicians and the rest of the Padma Award winners. Before receiving the honour, Alka touched the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's feet. For the unversed, Alka Yagnik has been doing playback singing for the past 46 years. She was one of the leading playback singers

in the 90s and early 2000s.

Alka Yagnik Receives Padma Bhushan

At the ceremony, Alka Yagnik arrived in a cream coloured dress. When her name was announced, the singer went to touch PM Narendra Modi's feet before receiving the Padma Bhushan honour from the President of India. The National Award-winning singer had to be assisted with a volunteer as she looked visibly weak. For the unversed, Alka was diagnosed with sensorineural hearing loss in 2024. Since then, she has been away from the limelight. Coming back to Padma Awards 2026 ceremony, actors like Mammootty, R Madhavan and Gadde Rajendra Prasad received the honours for their outstanding contribution to Indian cinema. Satish Shah, who passed away in October 2025, received posthumous Padma Shri honour. His wife Madhu Shah received the award on behalf of her late husband.

WATCH | Eminent playback singer Alka Yagnik conferred with Padma Bhushan by President Droupadi Murmu pic.twitter.com/q2zdg5Dteu

— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) June 23, 2026

About Alka Yagnik

Coming back to Alka Yagnik, she started her career as a playback singer in the 1980 with the film Payal Ki Jhankaar. She was only 14 when she sang her first song, Thirkat Aang Lachki Jhuki. In 1981, she shot to fame with the song, Mere Angane Mein, from the film Lawaaris. After singing in a few films, her breakthrough song came in 1988. She sang Madhuri Dixit’s iconic Ek Do Teen and became famous in Bollywood. For the song, Alka won her first Filmfare Award for Best Playback Singer Female in 1989. After that, Alka didn’t look back and went on to become one of the leading playback singers of the 90s. Alka Yagnik shares the record of winning the maximum Filmfare Award for Best Playback Singer Female with the late legendary singer Asha Bhosle. She has also won two National Awards for Best Singer. As far as her personal life is concerned, Alka Yagnik got married to a Shillong-based businessman Neeraj Kapoor in 1989, with whom she has a daughter named Syesha.