Padma awards and Asom Sir, The Government of India has declared this years Padma awards. Asom has got a disappointing tally of only two awardees. Posthumous Padma Bhushan to late littérateur CP Saikia and Padmashri to Dr. Temsula Ao give an impression that many other deserving candidates have been overlooked. It seems our government machinery is too pre occupied with law and order and survival to give any serious consideration to forwarding the names of the deserving candidates for the Padma awards. Since 50 years of inception of the Padma awards, less than 45 Asomiya personalities have been conferred these awards. Only one Asomiya personality has been awarded Padma Vibhusan, the second highest civilian award. The recipient was former Chief Minister Bimala Prasad Chaliha. Literary giants like Surjya Kumar Bhuyan, Nalini Bala Devi, Maheswar Neog, Atul Chandra Hazarika were not given anything more than the Padmashri. Many deserving candidates from Asom have never been awarded these titles.
Most of the times, our State government and the concerned bureaucracy have not been very effective in identifying and forwarding names of the deserving icons from the State. Otherwise how so many of our literary and cultural giants have never been conferred these awards. Nirmal Prabha Bordoloi, Jogesh Das, Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya, Hem Barua, Mitradev Mahanta, Binanda Chandra Barua, Ambikagiri Rai Choudhury, Bishnuprasad Rabha, Tarunchandra Pamegam, Phani Sarma, Parbati Prasad Barua, Raghu Nath Choudhary are some of the names which come to my mind. All these icons were alive when these awards were instituted. Neighbouring West Bengal has till now produced about 20 Padma Vibhusan awardees compared to our single score. There must be something wrong in our nomination process or may be our government machinery is too preoccupied to give this area a serious thought. The Government of Asom without any political undertone or other motives should vigorously lobby for the deserving candidates from the State. Some of the names which government should seriously consider for nominations in coming years are Zubin Garg (music), Homen Borgahain (literature), Hiren Gohain ((literature), Nalinidhar Bhattacharjya (literature), Hiren Bhattacharjya (literature), Sobha Brahma (art and culture), Dulal Roy (art and culture), Khagen Mahanta (music), Mamoni Roysom Goswami (literature) etc., The list will be quite long and it becomes quite frustrating when one sees many people getting awarded just because of their proximity to Delhi government circle or the press. Arm chair conservationist like Sunita Narain gets awarded with Padmashri where as likes of our Dharanidhar Boro risk their lives day and night to save our wild life and forest in Kaziranga. Yours etc., CHITTARANJAN PATHAK, Perth, Australia.
