The selection of this year’s recipients of the Padma awards exhibits a marked departure from past practices and trends. Instead of honouring the celebrities and the famous who have already achieved fame and high social status, the government has chosen beneficiaries who have unobtrusively made an impact in various walks of life. These unsung heroes like, for example Tulasi Gowda, the tribal woman from Karnataka who mastered an encyclopaedic knowledge of herbs; Harekala Hajabba, the fruit vendor who devoted his life and earnings to educate others; Abdul Jabbar, who fought for the treatment and rehabilitation Bhopal gas tragedy victims; and Mohammad Sharif, the bicycle mechanic who has performed the last rites of thousands of unclaimed bodies, would have languished in obscurity without the nation getting to know about their selfless service to the society. By conferring the Padma awards on unheralded do-gooders, the state is not doing any favour to the latter, it is only acknowledging its debt to socially committed citizens for improving the lives of their compatriots without the expectations of fame and recognition.
The government’s gesture of honouring unacclaimed social activism has struck a blow for the spirit of republicanism and will inspire more people to engage in nation-building activities.
V.N. Mukundarajan,
Thiruvananthapuram
