Who got Padma and why? All details since 1954 are now online

NEW DELHI: Days after the government threw open the nomination process for the prestigious Padma awards to the general public to make it transparent and curb the culture of influence and lobbying, it launched an interactive dashboard of all Padma awardees between 1954 and 2016, allowing users to explore their details.

The development is a step in the government's efforts to bring transparency and engage the people with the Padma award process, a government official said.

The website, http:www.padmaawards.gov.in will enable users to understand, explore and analyse all Padma awardees -who was given which award, in which year and other details.

The sophisticated data visualisation engine processes complex data of around 4,400 awardees till date into a simple and intuitive format.

The government has allowed Indians to recommend any achiever for the prestigious Padma awards as it threw open the nomination process to the public. The nominations can be made online but the nominators would be required to furnish their Aadhaar details for authenticity and accountability. The government has already received over 1,700 nominations, with last date set at September 15.

The move to involve the public, which started in recent years, will help identify unsung or lesser known people of excellence, officials said.

Padma awards are conferred in three categories -Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. These are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.