India's highest civilian awards were announced one day before 26th Jan. Padam Shree which are fourth highest after Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan are given to Indian citizens for their contribution in various spheres from art, sports , movies to public life etc.
Other award is Padma Bhushan which is awarded to recognize distinguish service to the nation.
4 sportsmen have got the Padama Shree and Padama Bhushan awards for 2009. Pankaj Advani, M.S. Dhoni ,Harbhajan Singh and Balbir Singh Khullar (former hockey player) got the Padma Shree and Abhinav Bindra got the Padma Bhushan.
In August we went gaga over our olympic medal winners namely Binda, Sushil Kumar and Vijendra Singh. The government of India recognized achievements of Bindra as he was the first gold medal winner for India. No Padma award is given to the other two though they won the bronze medals. Award shortlisting committee has a past of ignoring persons who have achieved in their field.
What has Harbhajan done in the past year?
Is his achievement bigger then Sushil Kumar or Vijendra Singh? I guess no
These is no limit to the number of awards which can be given so these two sportsmen could have easily been given the awards. But no for India Olympics is a 4 year affair, we will care about the Olympics only 2 months before the next Olympics in London. On one side we say we want to spread sports culture in India on other side we do such kind of thing. Indian boxers have brought many medals in the past year but no award is given to encourage the players.
There are other discrepancies also. Why is Saina Nehwal not given Padma Shree, she is ranked 10 badminton player in the world which is not a small achievement. Sania Mirza was given the award in 2006 when she was not even in top 50 probably on the basis of glamor quotient.
Even Media which is always so active :) in India to sensationalize news has not raised a voice about this. Though nothing can be done now but at least they should have asked some questions?. Perhaps this is not a TRP booster news.
