Padma Awards: Just two out of the 17 names recommended by Padma Awards Search Committee were chosen this year

NEW DELHI: Just two out of the 17 names recommended by a Padma Awards Search Committee, comprising 17 central bureaucrats, were ultimately chosen for Padma Awards this January 26.

Out of these two persons chosen ultimately for the Padma awards -- the late cartoonist behind famous children comics like Chacha Chaudhary, Pran Kumar Sharma, was only given a Padma Shri though the Search Committee of bureaucrats had recommended him for a Padma Bhushan.

Among those who missed out despite recommended by the Search Committee included chef Sanjeev Kapoor, CEO of Mumbai Stock Exchange Ashish Kumar Chauhan, Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission of India Ratan Kumar Sinha, ex-ICAR Chief Mangla Rai, Scientific Secretary to Office of Principal Scientific Advisor of Government of India, SV Raghavan, famous Hindi cricket commentator Sushil Doshi and diamond industrialist from Gujarat, Govindbhai Dholakia.

7 out of the 13 names recommended by the Search Committee had got Padma Awards in 2014. The purpose of this committee of bureaucrats is to recommended names to the Padma Awards Committee for whom no nominations may have come and hence may miss out being awarded. Actor Paresh Rawal got a Padma award in 2014 on recommendation of the Search Committee.

ET has earlier reported that PM Narendra Modi’s yoga therapist, Dr HR Nagendra, and RSS ideologue and journalist, S Gurumurthy, were part of the eight-member Padma Awards Committee which chose the recipients of the country’s highest civilian awards announced on Republic Day earlier this year. The committee, constituted by the PM every year, scrutinises all recommendations placed before it and makes its recommendations for approval of the President.