Misuse of Padma Awards

                                   Misuse of Padma Awards.

Pre-fixing a title to their names is peculiar to Tamilnadu and it almost defines the deep rooted desire of the people to glorify themselves.   This desire   cuts across caste lines, political affiliations and the economic divide.   The trend perhaps started with the filmdom where anyone can give a title to anyone. But National Awards are on a different footing.

National Awards were formally instituted in January  1954  to recognize the services of those who made a valuable contribution to the Nation. They were thus defined:

Bharat Ratna: For exceptional service   towards the advancement of art, literature and science  and in recognition of the public service of the highest order

Padma Vibhushan: For exceptional and distinguished service in any field including service rendered by Govt. services.

Padma Bhushan: For distinguished service of a high order in any field including the service rendered by Govt. servant.

Padma Shree: For distinguished service in any field including service rendered by Govt. servants. ( SC judgement on Dec.15^th, 1995 –Justice A. M .Ahmadi )

 The criteria are not clear. Bharat Ratna is for exceptional service and Padma Vibhushan for exceptional and distinguished service. Should it not be   the other way about ?

Even during the constitutional debate,   J.B.Kriplani’s suggestion that  the Awardees   found  committing “commercial offences” be deprived of their awards.    was not accepted.   . So we have many Padma awardees   raided by Income-Tax. These   things rob the awards their decorum.  Similarly musicians  charging in lakhs  for a concert are   creating wealth for themselves. Where is the service here? Persons who are engaged in enriching themselves    should not be awarded for that particular activity. It has to be beyond the call of duty. Rigorous scrutiny is needed while choosing   film stars,   if at  all they must be chosen. For instance, an   actress ,  a 2016 awardee  has said she does not need a man in her life. She said “Men must not be needed but wanted.”   Another actress awardee , when questioned about her“ revelations”  said she was  proud to display her assets because she had those assets .

  That the Padma Award is only an award and not a title does not dawn on many who don it and flaunt it as a title.    But in Tamilnadu, not merely  the  film stars but eminent  industrialists, top  musicians, educationists,  have no qualms about pre-fixing  it to their names as if it is a title.  Their letter-heads, visiting cards and announcements of their programmers mark it loudly..  Satyajit Roy, Abdul kalam,   Nandan Nilekani   , Anil Kakkodkar, E.Sridharn, or Narayana  Murthy  and many others   never pre-fixed their awards to their names as titles nor did they carry any other title.

The Home Ministry  replying to my RTI query clarified that “ the National Awards  do not amount to “titles “ within the meaning of Article 18 (1) of the Constitution and they should not be used as suffixes or prefixes. If this is done, the defaulter should forfeit the National Award ….”      It has cited a Supreme Court judgment delivered on Dec.15^th, 1995 by a Bench led by Justice A. M. Ahmadi CJI  

 . A press note issued by the Government of India in 1968 warned the Awardees that the awards should not be used as titles on letter heads, invitation cards, posters books etc., and warned of forfeiture if misused.  A complaint to the Home ministry with proof will result in forfeiture.

 Andhra Pradesh High Court asked producers Mohan Babu and Brahmananda to surrender their awards when a case was filed against their misuse of the awards. In the appeal, Supreme Court ( April 12, 2014 The Hindu) asked them to give an undertaking not to misuse . 

    The Supreme Court ( 1995) also recorded  that Conferment of Padma awards without any firm guidelines and fool-proof method of selection was  bound to breed nepotism, favoritism, patronage and even corruption.  Asha Parek  climbing 12 floors to meet  Union Minister Gadhkari  says it all. The Supreme Court recommended an extremely high standard and the limitation of awards to a fixed number in each category.  This Government must restore its value and dignity by making suitable changes in the criteria.    

    S.Pushpavanam, Free lance journalist, consumerpc@rediffmail.com(700)