Center Government declines names for Padma Awards: Center government has declined proposal to bestow Padma awards to a clutch of prominent personalities, including cricketer MS Dhoni, controversial saint Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, and table expert Zakir Hussain.
Center Government declines names for Padma Awards: Prominent names in leaders were in the initial list of nomination
Indian Express reported that Nationalist Congress party leader Sharad Pawar and veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who were awarded the country’s second-highest civilian honor, the Padma Vibhushan were on the initial list of nomination.
Officials told the Indian Express that two were awarded under the public affairs category, which falls under the government’s discretion, but didn’t mention who nominated them.
Other prominent personalities whose names taken out from the list included Biju Janata Dal MP Baijayant Panda, music composer Anu Malik and journalist Arnab Goswami. The home ministry didn’t cite reasons for rejecting the names.
The Padma awards are likely to be bestowed by the President at ceremonial functions held at Rashtrapati Bhavan later this year. President Pranab Mukherjee approved Padma wards for 89 recipients, including seven Padma Vibhushan seven Padma Bhushan and 75 Padma Shri awards this year.
Kirron Kher nominated name of Neerja Bhanot
The Indian Express said, “the maximum nominations were received for Singh, the controversial chief of the influential Dera Sacha Sauda who has also starred in three movies”.
Kirron Kher– BJP MP from Chandigarh nominated Airhostess Neerja Bhanot, who was killed during a hijack in 1986. The bio pic on her was also released last year in which actress Sonam Kapoor played an admirable role.
The search committee, set up to screen the nominations, comprised the cabinet secretary, secretary to the President, additional principal secretary to the prime minister, home secretary, actor Waheeda Rehman, journalist and MP Dr. Harivansh; political analyst S Gurumurthy; and, badminton player turned coach Pullela Gopichand among others, the Indian Express said.
