INTERNATIONAL DESK: The Padma Awards 2023 honour the deceased Samajwadi Party chieftain Mulayam Singh Yadav and former Union minister and Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna with Padma Vibhushan, apart from recognising a host of unsung heroes including Dilip Mahalanabis who was selected posthumously for Padma Vibhushan for saving lives by propagating the wide use of oral rehydration solution (ORS).
Significantly, the pioneer of modern architecture Balkrishna Doshi from Gujarat, who passed away only a day ago, figures as the first name in the Padma Vibhushan list. The list also includes tabla maestro Zakir Hussain and Indian-American mathematician Srinivas Varadhan.
Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, has been conferred on industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, philanthropist and Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murthy, playback singers Vani Jairam and Suman Kalyanpur, Kannada novelist and screenwriter S L Bhyrappa, Pune-based academician Deepak Dhar, Telangana-based erudite Vedic scholar Swami Chinna Jeeyar, spiritual leader Kamlesh D Patel and former Pro-Vice Chancellor of JNU Kapil Kapoor.
The Padma award for the playback singers Vani Jairam and Suman Kalyanpur will be seen as belated recognition for the talented duo who who got dwarfed by the towering genius of late Lata Mangheshkar and Asha Bhonsle.
On the Padma Shri list is late business magnate and ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon and RRR music composer M M Keeravaani. Only recently, the song ‘Naatu naatu’ from the blockbuster movie was awarded the Golden Globe award for the best song and has now been nominated in ‘best original song” category of the Academy Awards. Former founder chairman of Rasna group Areez Khambatta (posthumous), mathematician of Super-30 programme fame Anand Kumar and former BJP Manipur state unit president and ex-Union minister Thounaojam Chaoba Singh are the other interesting names in the list.
The Padma Vibhushan honour for Mulayam Yadav, a formidable foe of BJP who also got famously along with the Prime Minister, is part of the pattern where Narendra Modi government has reached across the aisle to confer civilian honours to BJP’s rivals. Early on, Sharad Pawar and former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi were awarded Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan, respectively.
Another Padma Bhushan awardee this year, S M Krishna, headed the Congress government in Karnataka besides serving as the external affairs minister in the UPA government, before switching to BJP in 2017.
Of the 106 Padma awards announced this Republic Day eve, six are Padma Vibhushan, 9 are Padma Bhushan and 91 are Padma Shri. Nine of the awardees are women while two persons are from the category of foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI. Seven persons have been honoured posthumously. A dozen of the 106 awards have gone to individuals from Maharashtra, followed by 8 each from Gujarat, Karnataka and UP.
In the sports category, former coach of Indian cricket team Gurcharan Singh, Kalarippayattu exponent S R D Prasad Gurukkal and Manipur martial art Thang Ta guru K Shanathoiba Sharma have all been named for Padma Shri.
Like in the previous years since 2014 when Modi government took over, the list reflects a conscious effort to broaden the pool by extending it to cover those working in villages, among tribals and for the promotion of folk arts and traditional arts and crafts. On the top is Padma Vibhushan awardee Dilip Mahalanabis, who during his lifetime pioneered the wide use of ORS, estimated to have saved over 5 crore lives globally. Mahalanabis, who is from West Bengal, demonstrated the effectiveness of ORS while serving in refugee camps during the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war.
Among the 25 other unsung heroes in the Padma Shri list, 79-year-old Kakinada-based social worker Sankurathri Chandra Sekhar has dedicated his life to providing free medical and education services to the needy. After losing his wife and two children in the Air India Kanishka bombing, he channelized his grief into a lifelong commitment towards betterment of society. He was instrumental in the treatment of over three lakh eye patients and 90% surgeries were free.
While one of the unsung Padma Shri awardees is 100-plus, two are shy of a century. 102-year-old Sarinda player from Jalpaiguri Mangala Kanti Roy produces unique bird calls through Sarinda, a folk music instrument. V P Appukuttan Poduval, popularly known as Kannur ke Gandhi, is a 99-year-old freedom fighter and Gandhian from Payyanur, Kerala. Having participated in 1942 Quit India movement, he has been a proponent of khadi and is a well-known Sanskrit scholar. Tula Ram Upreti (98) is a self-sustained small farmer and has been practicing organic farming using only traditional methods for the last six decades.
Ratan Chandra Kar, a retired government doctor from Andamans works with the Jarawa tribe that inhabits North Sentinel Island. He treated the Jarawas during the measles epidemic of 1999, reducing mortality rates that helped their population grow from 76 to 270.
Other good samaritan awardees include Siddi tribal from Gujarat Hirabai Lobi who has worked all her life for the Siddi community, providing education to their children through the balwadis she has founded. Interestingly, she herself was orphaned at a young age. War veteran and doctor from Jabalpur Munishwar Chander Dawar has been honoured for treating the underprivileged for the past five decades. He charges Rs 20 from his poor patients, having raised it from Rs 2 that he charged until 2010.
The artists in the Padma Shri list include santoor craftsman Ghulam Muhammad Zaz from a family making the finest santoors for past 200 years, Kalamkari artist from Gujarat Bhanubhai Chitara; and Pithora artist from Gujarat’s Chhota Udepur Paresh Rathwa. Folk theatre Zadipatti artist Parshuram Komaji Khune from Maharashtra who has worked for rehabilitation of misguided youth in Left-wing extremism-hit areas by engaging them in folk culture; Chhattisgarh Natya Nach artist Domar Singh Kunvar; and Naga musician Moa Subong who has developed a new and easy way to play instrument made from bamboo have also been honoured with Padma Shri.
Artists and linguists who have been working to preserve dying arts and languages have also been recognised with Padma Shri. These include 72-year-old retired professor Janum Singh Soy of Jharkhand working for four decades to preserve Ho language; Dhaniram Toto from Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, who is architect of the Toto language script; and B Ramakrishna Reddy from Telangana who is working to preserve the tribal and southern languages like Kuvi, Manda and Kui. (The Times of India)
জুমবাংলা নিউজ সবার আগে পেতে Follow করুন জুমবাংলা গুগল নিউজ, জুমবাংলা টুইটার , জুমবাংলা ফেসবুক, জুমবাংলা টেলিগ্রাম এবং সাবস্ক্রাইব করুন জুমবাংলা ইউটিউব চ্যানেলে।
