The Padma Awards - are they any good

The Republic Day has been the occasion for the country to honour those of its citizens whom it considers to have made a significant contribution to national life. Instituted in January 1954, the Padma awards, as they are collectively known, have become the pre-eminent marker of national recognition in India. When they were first instituted, there were only 18 Padma Shree awardees, 23 Padma Bhushan awardees and 6 Padma Vibhushan awardees. But over the years these numbers have swelled along with the scope and spread of those the Government of the day wants to honour. This year 81 Padma Shree, 43 Padma Bhushan and 6 Padma Vibhushan awards have been announced. Over these 56 years, a total of 2,333 Padma Shree awards, 1,111 Padma Bhushan awards and 264 Padma Vibhushan awards have been given out. 41 Bharat Ratna awards have been conferred too.

But there has been a more fundamental issue with these awards. What do them actually honour – is it excellence in a specific area of human endeavor, or is it for a contribution to nation building? If it is for the former, then the Government of the day is not the authority competent to judge this. How does a disparate committee of bureaucrats, technocrats, artists and politicians judge the relative musical brilliance of one artiste over the other? How does it judge who gets the Padma Shree and who gets the Padma Bhushan or Padma Vibhushan?

What is of equal, if not greater, concern, is that these awards are now seriously compromised, in the public perception, with favoritism, politicization and incompetence. There is hardly any transparency about the criteria employed to select one name over the other. In short, there is a growing feeling that these awards are increasingly becoming one among a range of political sops and inducements for the party in power to dole out. In life its not all those who strive, succeed. That’s where the role of awards and public recognition comes in. Awards do not only acknowledge success; they recognise many other qualities: ability, struggle, effort and, above all, excellence.

For every Sachin, there are hundreds of brilliant young sports people in India who never get the grooming and the break they need. And, even when they do, they are stymied at every level by a disrespectful system. For every RK Pachauri, there are thousands of environmental activists doing the most amazing work in towns and villages we have not even heard of. We come to know of them when they win an award and are outed before the media. Would we have heard of Mahasweta Devi or Aruna Roy, MC Mehta or Deep Joshi were it not for the Magsaysay? Would we have gone out and bought Kiran Desai or Aravind Adiga were it not for the Man Booker? When the history of cinema is written, Satyajit Ray will be remembered for his great films. He may not have made money from them. Some of his negatives may be irretrievably damaged. But the awards endorse him as one of the century’s greatest film makers. Likewise, every year, some truly remarkable Indians win fame and encouragement to pursue their excellent work through different awards but the most notable among them are the three National Awards: the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan.

That’s why we value the National Awards. That’s also why it’s important that they are chosen carefully, transparently, wisely. We cannot allow yet another institution to be subverted. That would not only destroy the awards but also undermine the achievements of all those remarkable men and women who have received them over the years. This is possibly their only claim to posterity in an age when popular media has made it impossible for us to recall anything beyond the immediate and the in-the-face. So when a Sant Singh Chatwal is awarded a Padma Bhushan after facing five CBI cases for cheating banks in India and other frauds in the US, it’s a shame that will take us years to live down. Interestingly, our Embassy in Washington DC was asked to recommend him for a Padma Shri. When they refused, his award was upgraded to a Padma Bhushan as if to score a point. Now the only way the Government can save its face is if Chatwal quietly returns the award and saves everyone the blushes. But will he? And will we ever get to know who recommended him?

Despite Chandrayaan-1 being the first lunar mission of India, the scientists and engineers engaged in the mission remained unrecognized with no mention in the list of Padma Shri awardees. The controversial decision comes at a time when government wants to stem brain drain of scientists and engineers to foreign organizations like NASA and woo them back to India with better terms than before and by rewarding good performance. Yet, if official recognition is itself banned while Padma awards are awarded to achievers of Indian origin in foreign countries, Indian establishments are bound to feel rather left out. This year, there was also controversy as many popular celebrities were awarded the Padma Shri, while many other deserving candidates were left out. One of them is Beijing Olympics bronze medal winning wrestler Sushil Kumar; he was the one who got medal in wrestling after 50-60 years. He is an idol for young wrestlers. The trend shows that the Padma awards are only given to people who are popular among the masses.

Awards, particularly, those accorded by the Government, must reflect our national character. It is therefore important, in fact essential, that there is total transparency in the way the awardees are selected. We can’t have only ministers and people in the Government recommending candidates for their vested interest. Awards such as Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan must include eminent achievers from all walks of life but they must also include people of immaculate credentials. It is not easy to check everyone’s background but it’s shocking to know that from the 1200 names recommended every year for these awards, the shortlist of 100 is decided by a Government-appointed committee within less than an hour. This must however be the first time that a person with five CBI cases filed against him was chosen for this hugely prestigious national honour.

There has to be greater clarity about such matters if we are to retain the prestige, dignity and honour of our National Awards and ensure that crooks, cheats and carpetbaggers do not seize our last citadel of excellence and outstanding achievement.

By

Chaithanya Vardelly