MS Dhoni’s nomination to Padma Awards rejected by the government

The Padma Awards, instituted in the year 1954, are awarded to citizens of India for their distinguished contribution in various areas of activity including education, arts, industry, science, medicine, literature, sports, public affairs and social service. It has, on previous occasions, also been awarded to few distinguished individuals who were not Indian citizens but contributed in various ways to India.

The Home Ministry has released a list of people who were left out from the nomination list of Padma Awards, and that includes the late Neerja Bhanot, former India captain MS Dhoni, and tabla player Ustad Zakir Hussain. As per a report by The Indian Express, these are only few of the names included in the 18,768 nominations list released by the Home Ministry.

The Padma awards are conferred by the President of India in the Rashtrapati Bhavan and will be held later this month. The other notable names that were dropped from the list included Supreme Court judge Justice Amitava Roy, who played an integral role in convicting late Jayalalithaa and Sasikala Natarajan in the disproportionate assets case.

Another interesting cut-out was Bollywood actor Manoj Vajpayee who had been nominated for the award by Jaya Bachchan and Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

The selection criteria, on many occasions, have been criticized with the claim that many highly deserving artists are left out to favor certain individuals. And maybe this time around, the critics need to be proved wrong. This year, President Pranab Mukherjee approved Padma awards for 89 recipients; seven Padma Vibhushan, seven Padma Bhushan and 75 Padma Shri awards.

Air hostess Neerja Bhanot, who died during a hijack in 1986, was nominated by BJP MP from Chandigarh Kirron Kher. Last year, a biopic on the Neerja, starring Sonam Kapoor, was released.

No sources in the report were able to confirm why the government rejected the proposal to confer the prestigious award to MS Dhoni and other nominees.