Actor-politician Balakrishna and Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS) founder Manda Krishna Madiga have been conferred with Padma Awards for 2025. While Balakrishna has been awarded the Padma Bhushan, Manda Krishna Madiga has received the Padma Shri.
Balakrishna, a film actor, is also a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLA from Hindupur. He is the son of veteran actor and TDP founder NT Rama Rao. Balakrishna was last seen in the 2025 film Daaku Maharaj. He received the award from the state of Andhra Pradesh for his contributions to the field of Art.
From Telangana, anti-caste activist Manda Krishna Madiga, an important leader of the Madiga Scheduled Caste community, received the award for his contributions to Public Affairs.
Mandakrishna Madiga, formerly known as Manda Eliya, began his activism in the early 1980s as a village-level anti-caste campaigner in the suburbs of Telangana's Warangal. He is one of the leaders who founded the MRPS in Andhra’s Prakasam district in 1994, primarily to advocate for sub-classification in SC reservation.
The organisation aims to implement internal reservations to enhance access to education, employment, and welfare programs for communities within the SC category that are further marginalised.
MRPS declared support for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured that the Union government would set up a committee to consider the Madiga community’s demands for internal reservations.
On August 1, 2024, the Supreme Court affirmed the states’ right to sub-categorise Scheduled Castes listed in the Presidential List to provide them with greater preferential treatment in public employment and education.
Also among the awardees from Telangana is Dr Duvvur Nageshwar Reddy, a gastroenterologist who received the Padma Vibhushan in the field of Medicine. He is the chairman and founder of the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology (AIG) hospital in Hyderabad.
From Andhra Pradesh, economist KL Krishna has been awarded the Padma Shri in Literature and Education. Formerly head of the Department of Economics at the Delhi School of Economics, he is currently the chairman of the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), Hyderabad.
Madugula Nagaphani Sarma, a Sanskrit scholar and Telugu poet from Andhra, has been awarded the Padma Shri in Art. He is known for popularising the art of Avadhanam in Sanskrit and Telugu, a performance in which a scholar composes poetry while answering questions.
Miriyala Apparao from Andhra has received the Padma Shri posthumously in the field of Art.
Vadiraj Raghawendracharya Panchamukhi, an economist and Sanskrit scholar, has been awarded the Padma Shri from Andhra in the field of Literature and Education. He has also served as Chancellor of the National Sanskrit University, a central university in Tirupati. He also played a role in the establishment of the Sri Venkateswara Vedic University, sponsored by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD). He has been associated with the TTD in various roles.
