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| Padma Shree: Honouring those from the grassroots | | |
Dr. Parveen Kumar
The Padma Awards are one of the highest civilian honors of the country given in three categories: Padma Vibhushan (for exceptional and distinguished service), Padma Bhushan (distinguished service of higher order) and Padma Shri (distinguished service). The award seeks to recognize achievements in all fields of activities or disciplines where an element of public service is involved.
The Government of India instituted two civilian awards Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhushan in 1954. The latter had three classes namely Pahela Varg, Dusra Varg and Tisra Varg. These were subsequently renamed as Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri vide Presidential Notification issued on January 8, 1955. Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award of the country. It is awarded in recognition of exceptional service/performance of the highest order in any field of human endeavor. The number of Bharat Ratna Awards is restricted to a maximum of three in a particular year. Government has conferred Bharat Ratna Award on 45 persons till date. It is treated on a different footing from Padma Award.
All persons without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex are eligible for these awards. However, Government servants including those working with PSUs, except doctors and scientists, are not eligible for these Awards. The Padma awards seeks to recognize works of distinction and is given for distinguished and exceptional achievements/service in all fields of activities/disciplines that includes Art (Music, Painting, Sculpture, Photography, Cinema, Theatre etc.); Social work (includes social service, charitable service, contribution in community projects etc.); Public Affairs (includes Law, Public Life, Politics etc.); Science & Engineering (includes Space Engineering, Nuclear Science, Information Technology, Research & Development in Science & its allied subjects etc.); Trade & Industry (includes Banking, Economic Activities, Management, Promotion of Tourism, Business etc.); Medicine (includes medical research, distinction/specialization in Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Sidha, Allopath, Naturopathy etc.); Literature & Education (includes Journalism, Teaching, Book composing, Literature, Poetry, Promotion of education, Promotion of literacy, Education Reforms etc.); Civil Service (includes distinction/excellence in administration etc. by Government Servants); Sports (includes popular Sports, Athletics, Adventure, Mountaineering, promotion of sports, Yoga etc.); Others (fields not covered above and may include propagation of Indian Culture, protection of Human Rights, Wild Life protection/conservation etc.). The award is normally not conferred posthumously. However, in highly deserving cases, the Government could consider giving an award posthumously. The award does not amount to a title and cannot be used as a suffix or prefix to the awardees’ name
All nominations received for Padma Awards are placed before the Padma Awards Committee, which is constituted by the Prime Minister every year. The Padma Awards Committee is headed by the Cabinet Secretary and includes Home Secretary, Secretary to the President and four to six eminent persons as members. The recommendations of the committee are submitted to the Prime Minister and the President of India for approval. As the awards could not be presented last year due to COVID-19 pandemic, the awardees of the last year were also presented with the awards this year. The Padmashree awards 2021 were given to 119 persons in a simple but glittering ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan which among others was also attended by Hon’ble Vice President Sh. M. Venkaiah Naidu, Hon’ble Primeminister of the country Sh. Narendra Modi and Minister of Home, Government of India, Sh. Amit Shah.
The list of the awardees for the year 2021 comprised of 7 Padma Vibhushan, 10 Padma Bhushan and 102 Padma Shree. Of these, sixteen awards have been conferred posthumously. The list of awardees includes 29 women and one transgender person. Some of the awardees were grassroots workers’ who waked bare foot to the Rashtrapati Bhavan to get the award. Some of the awardees are the from the grassroots level which by dint of their hard work and commitment towards one or the other cause arise from the dust to finally get this recognition of the highest level. A few of them include
TULSI GOWDA: Walking through the red carpet slowly and slowly in small steps, no one would have imagined, the lady in bare foot would one day receive this honour. Hailing from village Honali in Karnataka, Gowda belong to tribal Halakki community. An illiterate woman took to environmental protection at the age of 20 and since last six decades has planted about 30,000 trees. Owing to her contribution to save the environment she was bestowed with the Padmashree.
HAREKALA HAJABBA: An orange vendor selling oranges n the city of Mangaluru, Karnataka, India, was also among the Padmashree awardees 2020. Hajabba dropped out of school at an early age in order to earn money and contribute towards family expenses. Many years ago, when a foreign tourist asked him the price of an orange in English, he did not understand what had been said and felt embarrassed. That day he vowed to make a school in his village, which was deprived of school. He kept part of his savings from selling oranges, to start a school in his village, Newpadapu. He was able to start a small school. Today, the school, which has grown with government support and donations from private individuals, is known as Hajabba School. He is affectionately known as ‘Akshara Santa’ (letter-saint). For the extraordinary contribution he made, despite his own relatively constrained circumstances, to the cause of education in his native village, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian award, for his initiative and achievement.
RAHIBAI SOMA POPERE: Popularly known as ‘Seed Mother’, she is a tribal farmer from Mahadeo Koli, Tribal community from Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. Rahibai Soma Popere is a conservationist, who helped other farmers return to native varieties of crops, preparing hyacinth beans for self-help groups. She is also among three Indians on the BBC list of “100 Women 2018”. Scientist Raghunath Mashelkar gave her the epithet ‘Seed Mother’. Two decades ago, when her children started falling ill, she concluded that there is something wrong with the hybrid seed she uses. Popere decided to revert to her childhood knowledge and began preparing indigenous seeds and delivering them to others. She developed a Blackberry nursery and gave them out as gifts to members of the Self-Help Group (SHG). Popere started by distributing the seeds to members of two self-help groups, to relatives and also giving away seeds as return gifts. Soon, she came to be known as a Beej Mata. Besides, Rahibai travelled across Maharashtra and beyond to conserve indigenous seeds.
MANJAMMA JOGATHI: From begging on the street at the age of 15 to being sexually abused, Manjamma Jogathi, a Karnataka transgender dancer was also among the recipient of Padmashree. As her name was called, Manjamma, draped in a saree went up to the President and in a unique gesture, took the fringe of the saree towards President of India Ram Nath Kovind to wish him good luck before receiving the award. According to the belief system, a good wish from a transgender can bring luck. She is a transgender folk dancer of Jogamma heritage and the first transwoman President of Karnataka Janapada Academy.
MOHAMMAD SHARIF: Popularly known as Sharif Chacha of Ayodhya, the 83-year-old Mohammad Sharif took to social service of performing last rites of unclaimed dead bodies after his son’s death 29 years ago. In 1992, at the height of the communal tensions during the demolition of the Babri Masjid, his son Raees, a chemist while on way to Sultanpur was murdered. His body was left near railway tracks where it lay unclaimed and was devoured by stray dogs. Losing his son in this unimaginable manner, Sharif started going to police stations, mortuaries and railway stations to find unclaimed dead bodies. He has so far performed last rites of about 25000 unclaimed dead bodies irrespective of the religion of the dead. Chacha Sharif too was bestowed with one of the country’s highest civilian honour. |
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