Padma Awards: Centre rejected all but one of Kerala's 42 recommendations

Thiruvananthapuram: The Central government rejected 41 out of 42 names recommended by Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala for the Padma Awards 2018.

The office of the chief secretary, government of Kerala, in a reply to a RTI application filed by activist Jomon Puthenpurackal revealed the names of 42 individuals recommended by the state government of which only one name, that of Senior Metropolitan of the Mar Thomas Syrian Church, Philipose Mar Chrysostom, was accepted by the Centre.

It may also be recalled that three others from Kerala were conferred Padma awards outside of the recommendation of the state government. The three are: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue P Parameswaran who won the Padma Vibhushan, Dr M R Rajagopal pioneer in the field of palliative care, and Lakshmikutty Amma, for her services in indigenous medicine who prepares 500 herbal medicines from memory and has helped several people bitten by snakes and insects.

The only name nominated for Padma Vibhushan was that of novelist MT Vasudevan Nair. Kalamandalam Gopi, film actors Mammootty and Mohanlal, Peruvanam Kuttan Marar, and poet Sugathakumari were among those recommended for Padma Bhushan.

Padma Shri award was recommended for 35 nominees, including Surya Krishnamurthy (arts), Vanidas Elayavoor, Dr B Iqbal (both for education), C Radhakrishnan, Prof MK Sanu, and T Padmanabhan (all three for literature), P Jayachandran (music), and Dr VP Ganghadharan, Dr Sanjeev P Thomas, Dr Jayakumar, and Dr Sasidharan (all for medicine)

A committee under state Law Minister AK Balan was formed to shortlist the names. The committee also comprised ministers Ramachandran Kadannappally, Thomas Chandy (now former), Mathew T Thomas and E Chandrasekharan.