Unheard Padma Shri Awardees – 2020
Unheard Padma Shri Awardees – 2020
“Padma Awards – one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri”.
The Padma Shri Awards are given in various disciplines/ fields of activities like art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.
Padma Vibhushan is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service, Padma Bhushan for distinguished service of a high order and Padma Shri for distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.
These awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March/ April every year. This year the President has approved conferment of 141 Padma Awards and the list comprises of 7 Padma Vibhushan, 16 Padma Bhushan and 118 Padma Shri Awards.
Unknown awardees and the reason behind them:
Here are the names of a few people from the field of social workers who will be honoured at Padma Awards 2020: the list includes the names of Jagdish Lal Ahuja, Javed Ahmad Tak, Satyanarayana Mundayoor, S. Ramakrishna, Mohammed Sharif, Yogi Aeron, Tulasi Gowda, Abdul Jabbar and Usha Chaumar, among others.
The government’s move to recognise Javed Ahmed Tak, the well-known social worker from Jammu and Kashmir and S Ramakrishnan, founder of Amar Seva Sangam in Tamil Nadu with Padma Shri awards has been welcomed by the disabled community. These are rare instances when disabled people outside the realm of sports have been acknowledged for their efforts in the space of social work and activism.
The Padma Shri awardees:
Javed Ahmad Tak:
Javed Ahmad Tak, the specially-abled Social Worker, who is wheelchair-ridden after receiving a spinal in a militant attack, lives by the motto “Be A Part, Not Apart”.
He has been working with specially-abled children for the last two decades and has established Humanity Welfare Organization, Kashmir and Zaiba Aapa School for the children with special needs, which provides free education, material aid & motivation to more than 100 such children.
He also implemented projects for child-friendly spaces in almost 40+ villages in Anantnag and Pulwama. Javed Ahmad Tak is a true inspiration for the youth and motivates many like him to live for the cause.
S Ramakrishnan:
Social activist S Ramakrishnan has been awarded India’s fourth highest civilian honour of ‘Padma Shri’. The Tirunelveli-native who was paralysed neck down in an injury went onto aid in the rehabilitation of differently-abled individuals.
“In 1981, Ramakrishnan started Amar Seva Sangam, a school for children with disabilities at Ayakudi”.
Sankara Raman, who has muscular dystrophy, joined in 1992.
Now Amar Seva Sangam has developed as a premier organisation in the field of disability management and its focus is on rural areas. The institution is extending services to more than 13,000 disabled persons in more than 300 villages.
Jagdish Lal Ahuja:
Jagdish Lal Ahuja, also known as ‘Langar Baba’, is being awarded for “selflessly organising langars for 500 plus poor patients daily for over two decades”. He also provides patients with other support from financial assistance to blankets and clothes.
“Jagdish Lal Ahuja is a self-made billionaire who came to India empty-handed during the partition”.
He sold off properties worth crores to fuel his mission and continues to serve undeterred even by stomach cancer.
Mohammed Sharif:
Another Padma awardee, Mohammed Sharif Endearingly called ‘Chacha Sharif‘, Faizabad’s Mohammed Sharif is a bicycle mechanic who has silently been providing dignity and respect to the dead by cremating & burying unclaimed bodies for the last 25 years.
He has never differentiated based on religion, he performs last rites of the person’s religious practices cremating Hindus and burying Muslims.
Mohammed’s mission began when he lost his son many years ago. His body was found on a railway track, partly devoured by animals. It was then he decided that the unclaimed dead should be given a decent burial/cremation when there is no one else to do so.
Since then he has been carrying dead bodies on his cycle or a pushcart to a nearby cremation or burial ground for the final rites. Witnessing his act, people used to call him a mad man, but undeterred, he carried on with his work.
Mohammed regularly visits nearby hospitals, police stations, railway stations and monasteries to look for unclaimed bodies. If the body isn’t claimed within 72 hours, the government officials hand it over to Mohammed for the last rites.
Tulasi Gowda:
Among the other ‘Unsung Heroes’ who will be awarded the Padma Shri on Republic Day is Tulasi Gowda, who is known as the ‘Encyclopaedia of Forest’ due to her vast knowledge of diverse species of plants and herbs- despite not having any formal education.
“Despite growing up in poverty amongst the backward community, she has planted and nurtured thousands of trees over the past 60 years”.
Even at the age of 72, she continues to nurture plants and share her knowledge with the generation, carrying forward the message of environmental protection.
Tulasi Gowda Possessing endless knowledge of plants and herbs, Tulasi Gowda is hailed as an encyclopedia of the forest. She hails from Honnalli village in Ankola taluk of Uttara Kannada district. She has nurtured more than 40,000 trees so far. Even at the age of 72 years, she is determined to plant saplings and nurture them like her children, till they grow into trees.
She knows how to treat rare ethnic tree varieties. Single-handedly she tackled poachers. Stopped forest fires her contribution to the conservation of Western Ghat forest is immeasurable.
Satyanarayana Mundayoor:
Mundayoor, also known as ‘uncle Moosa‘ of Arunachal, who has been promoting education and reading culture in remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh for the last four decades.
“Mundayoor, who was born in Kerala, had left his government job as a revenue officer in Mumbai and moved to Lohit in Arunachal in 1979”.
He has established 13 libraries in remote areas such as Wakro, Chongkham, Lathaw and Ajnaw. He also started a home library movement, entrusting books to volunteers who in turn distribute the books to children.
Ravi Kannan:
Ravi Kannan, also known as Silchar’s saviour, was included in the list of Padma Shri awardees. He is a surgical oncologist from Chennai, who has treated over 70,000 cancer patients free of cost in Barak Valley.
“The treatment includes accommodation, food, employment and spreading awareness”.
He is known to have transformed the rural cancer centre into a full-fledged hospital and research centre. He quit his job in Chennai and shifted to Assam with family in 2007 to make healthcare accessible in the Barak Valley, where before his intervention, the nearest hospital was 300 km away.
Kushal Knowar Sarma:
Kushal Knowar Sarma, a veterinarian in Guwahati, has devoted his life to the conservation of Asian elephants. Interestingly, he has not taken a single weekend off in the last 30 years. “He is acclaimed for treating more than 700 elephants every year”. He has pioneered research in elephant anaesthetic, especially using a remote tranquilising injection technique.
Arunoday Mondal:
Arunoday Mondal, also known as ‘Sunderban ke Sujan‘, is a doctor who travels six hours every weekend to treat patients in remote Sundarban villages.
“More than 250 people, 80 per cent of whom are poor, are treated every weekend for varied ailments”.
He also arranges medicines, conducts medical camps and blood donation drives. He set up Sujan Sundarban, a free medical service centre, at his residence in Chandanpur after the Bengal floods in 2000.
Yogi Aeron:
Yogi Aeron, known as Himalaya’s helping hand. He started Helping Hand in Dehradun and is dedicated to providing medical help to the hill people.
“He treats over 500 patients free of cost every year”.
The patients include those suffering from burns or being mauled by animals. His patients are mostly poor, hill women from remote villages in the Himalayas.
Harekala Hajjaba:
Padma Shri awardee Harekala Hajjaba is an orange vendor from Harekala village in Mangaluru, Karnataka, popularly known as ‘Akshara Santa‘ or ‘Saint of Letters’. He saved up money from selling oranges and started a primary school to educate the children in his village in Mangaluru.
“Having not learnt how to read or write, the motivation to begin a school came from his inability to talk to a foreigner who asked the price for oranges in English”.
Hajjaba started a primary school in his village in 2000 with just 28 students. He then took loans and used up his savings to buy land for that school. A few years later, he started a high school for students aged 10 to 14 in the same village.
Seeing his zeal to ensure education for the children in his village, philanthropists joined the cause, helping Hajjaba with whatever money they could donate.
Sanjeev Bikhchandani:
Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder and vice-chairman of Naukri.com, India’s leading job site, has also been named for Padma Shri.
“Bikhchandani has been given Padma Shri in the category of trade and industry. His company also runs Jeevansathi.com, 99acres.com, and Shiksha.com”.
Bikhchandani had graduated from IIM Ahmedabad in 1989 and started from a servant quarter above a garage and a seed capital of Rs 2000. His company grew and attracted investments from leading global venture capitalists.
Image Courtesy: Mygov.in, Pendulum.com
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