Indian Express: Thiruvananthapuram: Sunday, February 04,
2018.
The Padma
awards declaration has once again kicked up a row in Kerala. Of the four Padma
awardees from the state, three P Parameswaran, Dr M R Rajagopal and
Lakshmikutty were not recommended by the state government, while all the names
barring one that were proposed by it were rejected by the Centre. Curiously,
the state had recommended the name of Rajagopal for the 2017 Padma awards.In
its response to an RTI application filed by activist Jomon Puthenpurackal, the
chief secretary’s office said that the state government had recommended 42
names, including those of writer M T Vasudevan Nair (Padma Vibhushan), poet
Sugathakumari, actors Mammootty and Mohanlal (all Padma Bhushan), for the
awards.
The names
proposed by the state also included those of Kathakali artiste Kalamandalam
Gopi, percussionist Peruvanam Kuttan Marar, and Philipose Mar Chrysostom (all
Padma Bhushan), in addition to 35 names for Padma Shri. However, the Centre
cleared only the name of Mar Chrysostom from the list.
The names
recommended for Padma Shri included T Padmanabhan, M K Sanu, C Radhakrishnan,
Soorya Krishnamoorthy, Chavara Parukutty, Kanayi Kunjiraman, Ramesh Narayanan,
artist Namboothiri, K G Jayan, G K Pillai, E P Unny, Nedumudi Venu, Dr V P
Gangadharan, Fr Davis Chiramel, M Mathews, K N Gopalakrishnan Bhat, E
Chandrasekharan Nair, Dr B Ekbal and I M Vijayan.
The names
were finalised by a search committee headed by state Culture Minister A K Balan
and a team comprising the chief secretary, panel secretary, ministers
Ramachandran Kadannappally, E Chandrasekharan, Mathew T Thomas and former
minister Thomas Chandy. The names proposed by the committee were cleared by the
Cabinet and sent to the Union government last September. Of the 42 Padma
recommendations from Kerala, only one was cleared by the Centre. Three other
Malayalis who got the Padma awards were actually recommended by others.
.JPG)
.JPG)
