The noted playback singer S.Janaki recently rejected,the Padma Bhushan awarded to her.Janaki who is 74 years old said the award has come too late in her life and is rejecting the award.I felt her rejection of the award is justifiable.She was an active playback singer for over five decades.But she also said she deserves a Bharat Ratna,the highest civilian award .However I felt it was little odd for her to say what she deserves. Perhaps she considers herself on par with Lata Mangeshkar who was awarded Bharat Ratna in 2001.The only other singer to get Bharat Ratna is M.S.Subbulakshmi.S.Janaki also said the Padma awards are more in favour of North Indian artists. One can not but agree with her.Lata Mangeshkar was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1969,Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 1989,Padma Vibhushan in 1999 and Bharat Ratna in 2001.But her contemporary S.Janaki did not get any Padma award all these years. Any dispassionate Indian would agree S.Janaki is no way inferior to Lataji.
Controversies surrounding Padma Awards is nothing new.This year veteran Malayalm actor Madhu was awarded Padma shree.He is also sore about his award.The Kerala government had recommended his name for Padma Bhushan. And Madhu's was the only name recommended for Padma Bhushan by Kerala government.But he was awarded Padma shree.Madhu contends the central government has no right to downgrade the recommendation of the state government.He feels it is equivalent to insulting the state government and its people.Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalitha has also said that her recommendation for Padma award to Veteran Composer duo Vishwanathan-Ramamurthy was rejected by Central government.It is very obvious Padma awards are politicaly motivated.It is no surprise the award has lost its glory and sheen.Surely there is some political consideration in Padma awards.A.R.Rehman was awarded Padma shree in 2006 .After ARR winning the prestigious Oscar in 2009 for Slumdog Millionaire music scoring ,the governement wanted to honour ARR with a Padma Bhushan in 2010.Suddenly it occured to those who matter,that Ilayaraja,the all time great Indian film composer,much senior to ARR is not yet given any Padma award.So in 2010 ,they decided to award Padma Bhushan to ARR and Ilayaraja,simultaneously.But recommendations by an opposition ruled state government is not at all considered favourably.Union government did not consider any of the names recommended by opposition ruled Bihar government this year.This year Padma awards were given to people not in Bihar state government's list.
There were instances of awardees refusing to accept or return the award as a protest .MGR was one of the earliest Padma Shree awardees in 1960.He refused to accept the award,as the citation was in Devanagiri script.Similarly Khushwant Sing was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1974.But he returned the citation in 1984 as a protest against the Union government's siege of the Golden Temple.In 2009 Harbhajan singh and Dhoni did not attend the award ceremony and chose to stay away,though they were present in the country. It was criticised as disrespect to the nation and the President of India.It was alleged both of them were busy shooting for Ads and chose to ignore the awards ceremony at that time.Like S.Janaki Sarod mastero Buddhadeb Dasgupta rejected Padma shree awarded to him in 2011.Like Janaki he said the recogonition has come too late in his life. He also said 'people half my age recieved the award long back'.He also went on to say he doesn't want to become a laughing stock in music circles by accepting the award at this age.
There is another practice of giving posthumous Padma Awards.Recently actor and former congress MP Rajesh Khanna was given Padma Bhushan posthumously.This is indeed an irony.The Padma awardees are given State funeral which includes a Last Post and a gun salute by the local police.A practice that genuinely honours an awardee.By giving posthumous awards,even that honour is denied to a Padma awardee.It is of no use if a person is honoured after his life time.
It is very evident there is always lobbying for Padma awards.Else how could one explain doctors who operated the Prime Minister's getting Padma awards.Surgeons who operated Manmohan Singh and Atalji were given Padma awards in the past.There were protests in the past for Padma awards given to NRI hotleir Chantwal and Saif Ali Khan who was charged for poaching.
There is discrimination and favouritism in Padma awards.It is awarded for loyalty to the party in power at the centre.There are demands from some quarters to scrap these awards.But I feel the awards should continue and must be given to deserving candidates only.It is a national recogonition. If the awards are to become meaningful it must be given to deserving candidates and recommendations must be unbiased with no political considerations whatsoever.Mr.Abdul Kalam as President had once returned the Padma Awards list given by the government,for irregularities.It is also reported Mr.K.R.Narayanan as Vice President also put his foot down on unfair awardees list.
An activist has already moved the Allahabad High Court seeking formation of a national selection committee to frame guidelines for Padma awards.One fervently hopes the union government would take steps to form a national selection committe to make Padma awards purposeful and make the awardees feel it is worthy to be honoured by a Padma award.
Controversies surrounding Padma Awards is nothing new.This year veteran Malayalm actor Madhu was awarded Padma shree.He is also sore about his award.The Kerala government had recommended his name for Padma Bhushan. And Madhu's was the only name recommended for Padma Bhushan by Kerala government.But he was awarded Padma shree.Madhu contends the central government has no right to downgrade the recommendation of the state government.He feels it is equivalent to insulting the state government and its people.Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalitha has also said that her recommendation for Padma award to Veteran Composer duo Vishwanathan-Ramamurthy was rejected by Central government.It is very obvious Padma awards are politicaly motivated.It is no surprise the award has lost its glory and sheen.Surely there is some political consideration in Padma awards.A.R.Rehman was awarded Padma shree in 2006 .After ARR winning the prestigious Oscar in 2009 for Slumdog Millionaire music scoring ,the governement wanted to honour ARR with a Padma Bhushan in 2010.Suddenly it occured to those who matter,that Ilayaraja,the all time great Indian film composer,much senior to ARR is not yet given any Padma award.So in 2010 ,they decided to award Padma Bhushan to ARR and Ilayaraja,simultaneously.But recommendations by an opposition ruled state government is not at all considered favourably.Union government did not consider any of the names recommended by opposition ruled Bihar government this year.This year Padma awards were given to people not in Bihar state government's list.
There were instances of awardees refusing to accept or return the award as a protest .MGR was one of the earliest Padma Shree awardees in 1960.He refused to accept the award,as the citation was in Devanagiri script.Similarly Khushwant Sing was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1974.But he returned the citation in 1984 as a protest against the Union government's siege of the Golden Temple.In 2009 Harbhajan singh and Dhoni did not attend the award ceremony and chose to stay away,though they were present in the country. It was criticised as disrespect to the nation and the President of India.It was alleged both of them were busy shooting for Ads and chose to ignore the awards ceremony at that time.Like S.Janaki Sarod mastero Buddhadeb Dasgupta rejected Padma shree awarded to him in 2011.Like Janaki he said the recogonition has come too late in his life. He also said 'people half my age recieved the award long back'.He also went on to say he doesn't want to become a laughing stock in music circles by accepting the award at this age.
There is another practice of giving posthumous Padma Awards.Recently actor and former congress MP Rajesh Khanna was given Padma Bhushan posthumously.This is indeed an irony.The Padma awardees are given State funeral which includes a Last Post and a gun salute by the local police.A practice that genuinely honours an awardee.By giving posthumous awards,even that honour is denied to a Padma awardee.It is of no use if a person is honoured after his life time.
It is very evident there is always lobbying for Padma awards.Else how could one explain doctors who operated the Prime Minister's getting Padma awards.Surgeons who operated Manmohan Singh and Atalji were given Padma awards in the past.There were protests in the past for Padma awards given to NRI hotleir Chantwal and Saif Ali Khan who was charged for poaching.
There is discrimination and favouritism in Padma awards.It is awarded for loyalty to the party in power at the centre.There are demands from some quarters to scrap these awards.But I feel the awards should continue and must be given to deserving candidates only.It is a national recogonition. If the awards are to become meaningful it must be given to deserving candidates and recommendations must be unbiased with no political considerations whatsoever.Mr.Abdul Kalam as President had once returned the Padma Awards list given by the government,for irregularities.It is also reported Mr.K.R.Narayanan as Vice President also put his foot down on unfair awardees list.
An activist has already moved the Allahabad High Court seeking formation of a national selection committee to frame guidelines for Padma awards.One fervently hopes the union government would take steps to form a national selection committe to make Padma awards purposeful and make the awardees feel it is worthy to be honoured by a Padma award.
Very nice post . I believe in 2009 there was a goof up too in Padma awards.Hashmat Ullah Khan of Jammu & Kashmir was given Padma Shree for being a a master craftsman of the rare Kani shawls .But the truth was ,he was not a craftsman,he was a mere exporter of shawls.The most funniest part was J&K CM Omar Abdulla said his government has not
ReplyDeletesend his name for any award ! Then who lobbied for an award for Hashmat,that too in a wrong category !