Nambi Narayanan, PT Usha were part of Padma panel

Former ISRO scientist S Nambi Narayanan was part of a 15-member panel set up last year to select Padma award winners. The constituents of this panel were not publicly known till now. The awards were announced last month on the eve of Republic Day and were conferred on 128 distinguished personalities, including former J&K CM and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, former West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, among others. Bhattacharya declined the award.

Besides Narayanan, the Padma selection committee comprises classical vocalist Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, film maker Shekhar Kapur, music-composer AR Rehman, Bachendri Pal, the first woman to reach Mt Everest, film composer Ilaiyaraaja, author from Assam Jogendra Nath Phukan, Dalit entrepreneur Milind Kamble, athlete PT Usha, filmmaker RV Ramani and Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) chairman, Vinai Kumar Saxena.

The panel was headed by Union cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba while principal advisor to PM, Dr PK Mishra, home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and secretary to the President of India, were the official appointees.


The former director of a cryogenic project at ISRO, Nambi Narayanan, was falsely named in the 1994 ISRO spy scandal. Twenty four years later, the Supreme Court in 2018, awarded '50 lakh compensation to Narayanan for being subjected to mental cruelty.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that investigated the ISRO espionage case had claimed a 'larger conspiracy' involving foreign hands, to derail India's space programme by at least two decades. In 2019, the Union government conferred Narayanan with Padma Bhusan, the third highest civilian honour.

Two years later, Narayanan was nominated as member of the prestigious Padma selection committee that for the first time had 15 members. In 2020 and 2019, the panel comprised 12 and 9 members respectively, including top bureaucrats from the central government.

The committee met 5-6 times between September last year and January 2022 before finalising the names and sending them to the President and Prime Minister for approval. Former UP CM Kalyan Singh, ex-CDS Bipin Rawat and Gita Press founder Radheyshyam Khemka were conferred the award posthumously. The other significant names included Microsoft CEO Satya Narayana Nadella, Alphabet CEO Sundararajan Pichai, Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing company chiefs Krishna Ella, Suchitra Ella, Cyrus Poonawalla and actor Victor Banerjee.

The award does not include a cash prize and the recipients only get a certificate signed by the President and a medallion. The winners are given a small replica of the medallion, which they can wear during any ceremonial or state functions. The ceremony for 2022 is likely to be held in March or April this year at the Rashtrapati Bhavan where President Kovind will confer the awards.