Padma Shri , is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan & the Padma Bhushan. It is awarded by the Government of India every year on India’s Republic Day. Padma Awards were instituted in 1954 to be awarded to citizens of India in recognition of their distinguished contribution in various spheres of activity including the arts, education, industry, literature, science, sports, medicine, social service and public affairs. It has also been awarded to some distinguished individuals who were not citizens of India but did contribute in various ways to India.
On 8 November, President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the prestigious civilian awards in New Delhi to the 2020(122 winners, ceremony wasn’t held last year because of pandemic & hence were awarded along with this year winners) & 2021 (102 winners) recipients.
The list of winners has made headlines all week, signalling that it’s no longer an award reserved for the elite. The inspiring stories of the winners — from the barefoot environmentalist from Karnataka Tulasi Gowda and folk artist Manjamma Jogati to “elephant man” Dr Kushal Konwar Sarma and orange seller & school builder Harekala Hajabba — prove that the awards truly honour significant achievements to India’s heritage and development.
Even industrialist Anand Mahindra, who would have been considered a typical recipient of the award five years ago, tweeted that he felt “undeserving” of the award in comparison to the individuals “making seminal contributions to the improvement of society at grassroots levels.”
The number of nominations for the Padma Awards has also increased manifold. The government received 46,000 nominations for the 2020 awards — in 2014, there were only 2,200 nominations. The government also launched the Padma Quiz in 2018, an online quiz that allows winners to attend the Padma Award ceremony in person at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
From nominating deserving people to getting a chance to attend the awards ceremony, the government has changed the way people interact with the awards itself. They are now being referred to as “Peoples’ Padma” because they’re beginning to represent the best of what India’s 1.4 billion population has to offer — and not just the elite.
This has clearly struck a chord. Videos of Manjamma blessing President Kovind went viral, and social media users have been celebrating unconventional winners as unsung heroes. It’s proof that Indians like seeing public winners reflect the country’s diverse social fabric — instead of highlighting how far we have left to go, it’s a moment of congratulations for getting this far.
Encouraging people to participate in the award process has made it more accessible, and rightfully more audacious. Those who would never have considered themselves winning some of the country’s highest civilian awards now can.
Karnataka has a total of 268 Winners till date.
Dr. M. Visvesvaraya in 1955 & Prof. C. N. R. Rao in 2014 are the only 2 Bharat Ratna recipients & we also have 22 Padma Vibhushans,71 Padma Bhushans & 173 Padma Shri awardees.
Five from Karnataka were given Padma awards this year. Eminent cardiologist Dr Belle Monappa Hegde(1938 born) was named for India’s second-highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan. Chandrashekhar Kambara(1937 born) prominent Indian poet, playwright, folklorist, film director was honoured with the Padma Bhushan. Matha B Manjamma Jogati (1957 born)an exponent in the field of arts was named as one Padma Shri recipients this year.
Rangasami Lakshminarayana Kashyap(1938 born) is an applied mathematician and a Professor of Electrical Engineering at Purdue University & the only person in the world to translate all the 4 vedas and K Y Venkatesh(1977 born) a para-athlete was also honored with the Padma Shri.