President Pratibha Patil on Thursday gave away “Outstanding Parliamentarians” awards to Union ministers Sharad Pawar, P Chidambaram and Mani Shankar Aiyer and BJP deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj became the first woman lawmaker to receive an outstanding parliamentarian award. In her acceptance speech, the BJP leader thanked the “male-dominated” award committee for naming her for the honour.

While Sharad Pawar was awarded for 2003, Sushma Swaraj was selected for the award for 2004, P Chidambaram for 2005 and Mani Shankar Aiyar for 2006.

“I am naturally delighted that three of the four awardees are members of my cabinet,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was present on the occasion, said.