Wikipedia:Today's featured list/April 7, 2017
The Padma Bhushan was presented two hundred times in the 1960s. It is the third-highest civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service of a high order", without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex. The recipients receive a Sanad, a certificate signed by the President of India and a circular-shaped medallion with no monetary association. Ten awards were presented 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, including five foreign recipients. Individuals from nine different fields were awarded. 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". (Full list...)