In the Country where only the Cricketers & Film Stars get all the laurels & recognition for their achievements, other Achievers in different fields are ofter left out like Olympic Medal winners Sushil Kumar & Virendra Singh also Akhil Singh who pall put up a great fight in the Beijing Olympics.

None of the them failed to understand why MS Dhoni & Harbhajan Singh were awarded Padma Awards this Year when they were completely overlooked. We were naturally hopeful when the ministry sent a recommendation (of our names). So, it’s disappointing, says Sushil. “After all, the Padma Shri is a great Honour.” Virendra does not grudge the cricketers their honour, but does admit to feeling “upset”. “hindustan mein aisa hi hota, main bilkul surprised nahi hota agar yeh Abhinav ko bhi nahi dete,” says Olympic quarter finalist & Commonwealth games Gold medalist Akhil Kumar; who feels there are many “who don’t even know why they got the award”

Everyone seems to want the Padma Shri for me, but things in India only works for Cricketers & Movie Stars, Says Saina Nehwal, who broke in to the World Top 10 in Badminton.

Shooter Abhinav Bindra, who did get an award – the Padma Bhushan – shows solidarity with the overlooked athletes, wondering why they were struck out of the list of awardees. “Cricket rules the roost in India, but we need to acknowledge that the Olympics, not cricket, brings glory to the country,” he says.

From missing deserving candidates to fake awardees, the national honours list appear to have lost their sheen.

A glance at how names for the awards are short-listed:

  1. Thousands of recommendation from state governments, Union Territory administrations, central ministries, individuals, organizations, even self-recommendations, are placed before the Awards Committee for consideration.
  2. The recommendations of the Awards Committee, which comprises eminent personalities from different fields, are submitted to the home minister and then to the President’s office for approval.
  3. After the President’s office approves the lists, it travels to the prime minister’s office for final scrutiny before they are announced on the eve of Republic Day.

The story of Vijender / Sushil Kumar & Akhil is indeed regrettable. Govt. must have advisers who can help in he processes of confirming awards. That should ensure that no deserving sportsperson is mysteriously ar arbitrarily denied his share of public recognition. I think these awards have been reduced to a farce.

Padmashree awards have undoubtedly lost not only their sheen but also any relevance. More importantly.the norms followed for selection of the awardees leave much to be desired. Again, if public service is considered the foremost criterion for the awards, then lime light. they have to be scrapped altogether.

We personally feel very pity on those athletes who shined in the recently conducted olympics and who brought medals to our nation, were not considered for such prestigous awards. These awards are meant for public service only. I urge the Indian Government to maintain the dignity of these awards.

Though Aishwariya Rai, Akshay Kumar and Harbhajan Singh have excelled in field, but there was no reason for them to get the awards this year. Bhajji is always known for his misbehavior and unsportsman spirit is getting award and for the rest I think we have better dersevee, whose efforts are overlooked and only people with limelight and glamour take away the national awards. The selection committee should apologies to the Nation for making a mockery of the Padma Awards.

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