People, till few years back, used to think that Padma awards are meant mostly for the so-called elite group of movie stars, sports persons, politicians, journalists, entrepreneurs. The outlook of people in the last few years has changed. On this republic day many eagerly waited to see the common, but the really deserved people who got Padma awards and their inspiring stories.
The image of 108-year-old Saalumarada Timakka receiving Padma shri award from honorable president was the most inspiring and unforgettable image in 2019.
Timakka, a simple woman from Karnataka, was honored with Padma shri for planting 8385 trees and taking care of them for nearly 70 years. In recent years government is respecting common people, from all sections of society, working with dedication in different fields. Government is honoring such people with Padma awards along the side of well-known celebrities.
The Padma awards have become People’s awards as evident by the fact that number of nominations received for 141 awards this year were 46,000 compared to 2200 in 2014. The procedure for nomination was also made online, user friendly and well campaigned. The 2000% increase in 5 years shows the faith of common person in this government, that the government will honor talent and selfless service unbiasedly. Every Indian should know about these unsung inspiring real heroes.
Late Shri. Abdul Jabbar was a survivor of Bhopal gas tragedy in 1983 and was honored with Padma Shri 37 years after tragedy. He helped thousands of other victims and survivors by forming a legal group and fought for medical rehabilitation. He assisted 2300 widows by providing vocational training courses.
Shri. Usha Chaumar, a Dalit girl in Rajasthan was in the job of manual scavenging since the age of 7 years. She was rescued by N.G.O, supported others and went on to become the President of Sulabh International Organization. She is fighting to completely remove manual scavenging. She is the Padma awardee.
Shri. Mohammed Sharif, Padmashri awardee, of Uttar Pradesh is fondly called Chacha. He performed last funeral rites of 25,000 unclaimed bodies irrespective of religion or caste in Faizabad for past 25 years.
The awardees list includes simple people who contributed greatly to agriculture and nature.
Shri. Tulasi, 72 year old uneducated woman from backward caste in tribal area of Karnataka has extensive knowledge on vast plants and herbs and is called Encyclopedia of Jungle. She preserved and forwarded knowledge to next generations.
So is Smt. Rahibhai Soma Popere, the illiterate 52 year old tribal farmer from Maharashtra ,who is called “Seed mother”. She developed different seeds, methods of cultivation in traditional tribal ways which resulted in 30% increased crop yield.
In Odisha, Shri. Radha Mohan along with his daughter Sabarmati established a research Centre on seed exchange and organic farming to help farmers.
Shri. Sundaram Verma of Rajasthan developed dry land agroforestry technology and has grown more than 50000 bushes in dry Shekawati area. He developed methods to grow a tree with on litre a day.
Shri. C. Venkat Reddy of Telangana has developed soil swapping, soil nutrient, soil fertility techniques getting international patent. Using only organic farming methods only he achieved higher yield in paddy (10.3 vs 6 tons per hectare), wheat (6.5 vs 3 tons per hectare) and grapes (32 vs 20 tons per acre). He also developed new kind of grapes, black beauty.
Shri.Himmata Ram Bhambu planted millions of saplings in deserts of Rajastan and took care of thousands of birds and animals.
Shri. Javed Ahmed Tak, a divyang from Anantnag (J&K) was honored with Padmashri for his courageous work in Anantanag and Pulwama. He was disabled due to terrorist firing. But, he is working bravely to mainstream some youngsters of Kashmir by Humanity welfare Organization and Jaiba Alpa School. They are providing free schooling and skill development courses.
So is divyang, Padmashri awardee, Shri.S. Ramakrishnan from Tamilnadu who helped 14,000 physically disabled people in 800 villages over 40 years by establishing Amara Seva Sangh. He worked for promoting education, medical facilities, employment opportunities and rehabilitation of divyangs.
Doctors awarded this time are for their selfless services in remote underdeveloped areas.
Doctor Shri. Arundoday Mondal, who came from poor Dalit family, treated thousands of BPL people in remote Sundarbans villages of Bengal by travelling 6 hours and long distances in weekends by establishing Sujan Sundarban.
Shri. Ravi Kannan, Chennai based oncologist left lucrative career in city and moved to the remote Barak Valley in Assam and treated 70,000 patients free of cost.
Shri. Jagadish Lal Ahuja, fondly called “Langar Baba”, is serving food daily to hundreds of patients and attendants at PGIMER, Chandigarh. He even sold his properties to continue his good work and was honored with Padma shri.
Shri.Harekala Hajabba is an orange seller in Karnataka, who supports education of hundreds of children with his little income is awarded Padma shri. Initially he set up a mosque and changed to Hajabba school. It was later converted to Zillah Panchayat high school with help of government and locals.
Kerala based Sathya Narayan Mundayoor or Uncle Moosa worked in Arunachal Pradesh to improve education. He initiated home library movement in remote tribal areas from the age of 25 since 1979 after leaving income tax officer job. He mainly worked for the upliftment of children of backward castes in remote tribal areas.
People working in government sectors were also rewarded with Padma awards based on their sincere works in respective fields.
Sarpanch of Hiware Bazaar village in Maharashtra, Shri. Popatrao Pawar, worked and motivated people in changing the drought-struck village into ideal village. In this village now there is no open defecation or alcohol consumption or BPL family.
Shri. Thalappil Pradeep, a Keralaite, working at IIT Madras contributed significantly to nano technology.
Shri.Late. Vishwesha tirtha Swamiji of Udipi Pejavara Math, was honored with Padma Vibhushan for working towards social inclusion and removal of untouchability. He promoted communal harmony and organized Iftar functions for Muslims at Math during Ramzan.
Kerala born Shri. Mumtaz Ali Khan was awarded Padma Bhushan. Khan grew up listening to Sufi tales, went on to become a spiritual saint and started Satsang foundation and runs free schools in Andhra Pradesh. He is also a renowned author and tries to bring people of all communities together.
Common people who have contributed in promoting culture and heritage of India were honored with Padma awards.
Shri.Moozhikkal Pankajakshi from Kerala is 81-year-old sole practitioner of fading form of puppetry art called Nokkuvidya Paava Kali. This art is performed with a stick puppet on upper lip. From the age of 12 she worked tirelessly to keep the art alive.
Shri. Vijayasarathi Sribhashyam from Telangana is famous Sanskrit scholar and authored many books. He is promoting Indian culture by establishing Sarvavaidika Samsthanam and Yagna Varaha Kshetram.
The 69-year-old famous Stage artist and director Shri. Y.Gopala Rao is from remote area of Srikakulam, AP.
Shri. Chalapathi Rao from Anantapur, AP is working hard to keep the dying folk art of puppet making and puppet plays.
Shri. Ramzan Khan, Padma shri recipient, used art to bring different communities and promoted communal harmony. He continues his family legacy of singing Ram-Krishna Bhajans in temples. He also compiled Bhajans of Lord Krishna, Ram, Vishnu and Shiva in his book “Shri Shyam Surabhi Vandana”.
While giving awards, importance has been given to the selfless contribution done by individuals in different fields like education, health, agriculture, environment, arts, literature, communal harmony, social awareness, inclusion and upliftment. People from all communities, backward and marginalized sections were given due respect for the efforts. Any appreciation and recognition for a good deed creates a positive impact on society and inspires many to do similar deeds.
Giving Padma awards to such truly deserved increases the respect of awards. Citizens will know the real inspiring stories of real heroes of nation. In coming years more people will work for good causes and more people will nominate such good people who work selflessly. Government should be really appreciated for making Padma awards People’s awards.
