Newsroom, January 26, 2026: India announced the Padma Awards 2026 on Republic Day eve, honouring unsung heroes. Among the 113 Padma Shri recipients is Kollakkayil Devaki Amma, a 92-year-old from Muthukulam in Alappuzha district, Kerala.
She built ‘Kollakkal Tapovanam, ’ a private forest on five acres around her home starting in the 1980s after an injury ended her farming days.
With support from her late husband, she planted thousands of saplings, nurturing around 200 species of native, medicinal, and fruit trees, plus ponds and gardens that now shelter birds, monkeys, and other wildlife.
