Why Padma Awards for Sri Satyendra and Sri Manjunath
As per the
Government of India website, http://india.gov.in/myindia/padma_awards.php -
“Padma
Awards, namely, Padma Vibhushan,
Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri are given for exceptional
and distinguished service in any field
including service rendered by Government servants.” The process for this
has
been described as- “ The recommendations for Padma Awards are received
from the
State Governments/Union Territory Administrations, Central
Ministries/Departments, Institutions of Excellence, etc. which are
considered
by an Awards Committee. On the basis of the recommendations of the
Awards
Committee, and after approval of the Home Minister, Prime Minister and
President,
the Padma Awards are announced on the eve of the Republic Day.”
Hence the key words in the entire subject matter are- “exceptional and
distinguished service”. The field has been made wide open. It says- “in
any
field, including service rendered by Government servants”.
Now what service has been rendered by the two brave young men for nation
building and for giving huge impetus to the values they genuinely
cherished is
for everyone to see. Both of them passed from the best Institutions in
India and
could easily have lived life of luxury flush with money and comfort.
Instead
they chose Public sector units to render their services. Here again they
did
not follow an easy life but dared to swim against the tide all through.
The
result was there in the form of their supreme sacrifice. Could there be a
more
exceptional service. Now as far the distinguished nature of service was
concerned, let us look at the impact these people have made on the
hearts and
minds of the people of this country. Both of them were neither
politicians, nor
film stars or cricketers of Indian team. They were ordinary government
servants. Yet today they kindle more love, respect, admiration and
feelings in
the people of our country than many of those glitzy glories.
On the social site Facebook we have so many
comments bringing forth the feelings of the people of this country
vis-à-vis this
cause. To quote only a few, Suyash Prasad feels- “ Honest act and honest
people
must be promoted in society---we are facing threat of Moral crisis ---
lets act
to establish morality -- character in society.” Raza Iman is of the view
that
–“It would be the right thing. Far superior to using the awards as
political
patronage”. while Anshu Rastogi says that- “it is the least we can do.”
According to Samoel Patankar- “wow, this
people are inspiration.” while Amit Yayawar says- “We
need people like them.” Ajeet Kumar goes a step further to say- “We
deserve
Padma Awardees like them.” Amit Varadan’s feelings are deep and intense-
“Sh
Dubey and Sh Shanmugham made the supreme sacrifice of their lives to
uphold the
values that they fearlessly believed in. They belong to the rarest of
rare
category of people. I feel privileged to be part of this movement to
bestow
them the Padma Awards.” Suresh Verma
rues the fact that- “Its Irony but true that now a days political
connections
brings awards
so real people hardy gets any notice.”
Pranesh Kumar
is all praise for them- “These guys should definitely get it in a
age
where corruption, dishonesty, moral ethics are missing they stood up to
the
system but unfortunately had to pay a price for it : let their souls
rest in
peace & they be a role model for the coming generation : hats off
for this
initiative.”
On Petitiononline.com Praddep Esteves loudly says that- “They do
deserve to be recognised for the sacrifice they made for the integrity
of the
Nation.” And to Rohit Jadia- “These departed souls are inspiration to
our and
future generations”. To Navneet Gupta- “Sri Satyendra Dubey and Sri
Manjunath
Shanmugam are the real heroes of India.”, a feeling echoed agin by
Santosh
Dubey- “Real Hero of Country!!!!!”. Manoj Yadav is quite forthright in
saying- “It
is high time to indicate what kind of people should be our role model.
these
two deserve to be our role model and hence padma award.”. Prof Oopali
Oporajita had some cynicism in her voice when
she said- “I don't valorize the Padma awards, tainted as they are by
rank
nepotism, and party to that same corruption these two people were
seeking to
fight; but if that's the only way this country can honour their memory,”
Sharad
says that it is really bad that we have beg for Padma awards for these
people,
which should have got much earlier.”
Deepak Tiwari believes that- “we need to glorify such exemplary people
so that
future generations get inspired from them and emulate them to make India
a
great responsible nation”. According to
Dr Mira Shiva- “People like Sateyendra Dubey and Manjunath are getting
rarer by
the day ,in this increasingly selfish , greedy and cruel world . if
idealism ,
selflessness and sense of duty and sacrifice is not rewarded while the
corrupt
and greedy who are selling the nation's resources for personal good ,
then
cynicism , bitterness anger frustration , and violence will only
increase.” Kamal
Sharma also echoes the same feelings- “It will inspire other fellow
Indians to
stand up to corruption, injustice”.
>From all these it is quite apparent that Sri Satyendra and Sri Manju
Nath
deserve this award more than anyone else. It would not only be a great
moral-booster to the common people of this country but would also make
others
feel energized, elevated, reinforced and honored. Both these young men
are the
true heroes of this Nation and any respect showered to them and any
honour
given will be the honour to the ideas and ideals that they stood for.
Institute
for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences
(IRDS) sent a petition
to the concerned authorities on 02/07/2010. We have meanwhile started a
petition campaign on Petition online and have started a group on
Facebook
dedicated to the same cause. 225 people have signed the petition while
more
than 350 have joined the group agreeing with the cause. We, as a group
and as a
grand union, shall keep pursuing this cause till the time we achieve our
goal. It
is important because these two people are not individuals any more. They
are
now symbols and ideals of truth and heroism- something which some of us
might
be lacking personally but which we all respect no lesser than anyone
else.
Hence, we request you to kindly spread this message as far as possible
and to
urge the friends to join this cause in a very large number.
Petition Online-- http://www.petitiononline.com/manju/petition.html
Facebook group- Padma Awards for Sri satyendra Dubey
and Sri Manjunath Shanmugam
Amitabh
Thakur,
President,
IRDS,
Luclnow
# 94155-34526
