National awards.....??!?!?

National Awards: The ‘Secular’ Connection
by Saurav Basu via Boloji

This article brings out some harsh facts on the prestigious Bharat Ratan awards. How the rulling party makes a difference and how our leaders define how we look at the past... and who are the heroes?

Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award for national service. The order was established by Dr Rajendra Prasad, President of India, on January 2, 1954. Today, there are 41 Bharat Ratna winners in India, the last being Bhimsen Joshi. And yet, there are noticeable absentees. Mahatma Gandhi, the most conspicuous but since he was already elevated to the ‘father of the nation’, his posthumous soul automatically opted out of the race.

But there was no Sardar Patel either, the iron man of India until 1991, despite the fact that the provision to award the Bharat Ratna posthumously was enacted way back in 1955. This provision was probably made to confer the award on Sardar Patel. But Nehru’s profound ideological and personal differences with Patel came in the way.

and so the story goes....