Fact Check: Saudi Yoga teacher Nouf Marwai was honored with Padma Shri in 2018, not 2021

Currently, an image is widely being shared on social media claiming that this time a yoga teacher from Saudi Arabia, Nauf Marwai was also honored with Padma Shri, but due to the fear of religious fundamentalists, the Indian media has not reported it.

In the viral image, President Ram Nath Kovind is seen honoring a woman.

Sharing the viral image, social media users are writing with this picture that Nouf Marwai had health problems since birth, for which she came to India for treatment. After recovering completely from here, Marwai started teaching yoga in Saudi Arabia. Now she is a successful teacher of yoga.

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NewsMeter had also received the viral image on WhatsApp to verify the claim.

"Saudi Arabia's Nauf- Al-Marwai was honored with Padma Shri. She came to India after she had zero immunity since birth and the doctors raised her hands. After being completely healthy after treatment here, she started yoga classes in Saudi Arabia. She is a successful teacher of yoga. She says that about 60 percent of the new generation of Saudis learn yoga and also do Surya Namaskar. Our media might not be able to tell all this out of fear of the radical jihadis living in India," reads the viral message shared along with the image.

Fact Check

The claim is False.

NewsMeter began its investigation by performing a Google Reverse Image Search of the viral image which led us to a tweet by President Ramnath Kovind on March 20, 2018. The team found a similar image uploaded on the official Twitter account of the President of India with a caption that read, "President Kovind presents Padma Shri to Ms. Nouf Al Marwaai, first certified Yoga Instructor in Saudi Arabia. She played an instrumental role in legalizing Yoga in Saudi Arabia. Born with an auto-immune disease, she overcame the challenge through Yoga and Ayurveda."

Taking a cue from this, the team had searched for reports published by the mainstream media on Nouf Al Marwaai winning a Padma Shri award.

According to a report published by News18 Hindi on March 28, 2018, after nearly 20 years of struggle, Nouf Al Marwai was declared as Saudi Arabia's first certified yoga instructor. The report had also published a similar image to that of the viral image. The report was headlined 'This Saudi Arabian woman who promoted yoga received Padma Shri'.

The image was also published for a report by Patrika headlined 'This woman from Saudi Arabia awarded with Padma Shri, played an important part in promoting Yoga'. The report stated that appreciating all her efforts and struggle in promoting and taking forward the yogic tradition to Saudi Arabia and becoming the first certified yoga instructor, President Ramnath Kovind honored Nouf Al Marwai with the Padma Shri award.

Meanwhile, the team found a list of all the Padma awardees in 2018, in a report published by The Hindu. In the report, under the category of all the Padma Shri awardees, the team found the name of Nouf Al Marwai.

The team lastly found the complete video of the Padma award events 2021 on the Twitter handle of the President of India. The team did not find Nouf Marwai anywhere being awarded in 2021.

It is therefore evident that the claim is False. Nouf Al Marwai was awarded the Padma Shri award in 2018 and not in 2021.