Goans snubbed at Padma
HERALD NEWS BUREAU
PANJIM, JAN 25
Goans were snubbed at the Padma awards this year as not a single Goan, either a resident or native of the State, were honoured by the Government of India for either the Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan or Padma Shri awards announced on Tuesday.
In fact, as many as 11 Goans, either residing in or hailing from the State, had been nominated for the prestigious awards.
Six Goans, including late Shreeram Kamat whose last work was an encyclopaedia, had figured among 1,302 nominations received by the government for the Padma awards, announced on the eve of the Republic Day.
Former Solicitor General of India and leading lawyer Dr Manohar Usgaonkar in public affairs category, former Vinayak Vishnu Khedekar in arts, industrialist Anil Counto and social workers Gangaram Morajkar and Ramkrishna Naik were the other nominees.
Besides six Goa-based Goans among the nominations for this year’s Padma awards, there were five other Goans who figured in the list of 63 nominees from Maharashtra.
They were classical singer Pandit Prabhakar Karekar and Pune-based scientist Dr Raghunath Mashelkar, retired director of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Delhi.
Other Goan nominees from Maharashtra were theatre artiste Asha Lata Wabgaonkar, Mumbai-based social worker Jyoti Mapsekar and painter Prafulla Dahanukar.
Last year, Goa had the distinction of having two recipients of the Padma awards.
Noted literary personality Dr Maria Aurora Couto and renowned academician Fr Romualdo de Souza were honoured by the Government of India in a list of 81 selected for the Padma Shri awards.
