Times of India: Hyderabad: Tuesday, June 19, 2018.
In an
interesting revelation, city-based RTI activists have found that majority of
the names recommended by the Padma awards search committee did not get the
honour. Conversely, 31 persons who were honoured with the Padmas by the
Narendra Modi government in 2018, did not have any recommendation. This clearly
reinforces the fact that Padma awards are a result of political decisions of
the ruling dispensation, said RTI activists.
Analysis of
the data of the ministry of home affairs (MHA) revealed that only 4 of the 51
recommended by the search committee were awarded the Padma in 2018. Other
recommendations of the search committee, appointed by the Centre, were ignored.
It was also found that of the 84 awardees, 31 of them did not get any
recommendation on the centralised web portal, where citizens recommend
individuals for awards. Interestingly, most of the suggestions on the portal
came for individuals from Maharashtra followed by those from Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka and Telangana.
"Six of
the 10 Padma aspirants in 2018, who received the highest number of
recommendations on the ministry of home affairs portal, were from Andhra
Pradesh and Telangana. 'Factly', a city-based data research organisation,
alleged that thousands of recommendations for each person appear to be a
coordinated campaign where some citizens had recommended the names of certain
aspirants multiple times. Interestingly, none of them, who received the highest
nominations, got Padmas.
Andhra MP,
film actor and industrialist Maganti Murali Mohan and Hanmanth Gaikwad, CMD of
BVG group of Maharashtra, were among those who received the highest
recommendations and nominations from the public for Padma awards in 2018.
Religious scholar Chaganti Koteswara Rao of AP, Umar Alisha (Peetadhipathi of
Viswa Vignana Vidya Adhyatmika Peetham of Narsapur in AP), Canadian Bala
Theresa Gingras, who runs a Warangal-based NGO, film actors Pawan Kalyan and
Nandamuri Balakrishna were among those who received a good number of
recommendations, but could not make it to the awards list.
TDP MP M
Murali Mohan told TOI, "I have been funding studies of at least 1,000 poor
students through the Muralimohan Charitable Trust. My students themselves have
nominated my name. They spoke to each other and did it. Even AP chief minister
N Chandrababu Naidu recommended me for the Padma Visbhushan. But the Centre
didn't consider it. I have an illustrious film career and doing social service
too. Maybe, because I belong to the Telugu Desam party they did not consider my
name."
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