M.S Dhoni, Arnab Goswami Among Those Rejected By Govt For Padma Awards

NCP chief Sharad Pawar and BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who were awarded the Padma Vibhushan, are not on the nomination list.

Outlook Web Bureau

Updated on: 27 March 2017 5:19 pm

Cricketer M.S Dhoni, journalist and news anchor Arnab Goswami, spritual leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh are among those who were rejected by the government for the prestigious Padma awards.

According to a latest report by The Indian Express, the Home Ministry has now made public the list of 18,768 nominations received for the Padma awards.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar and BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who were awarded the Padma Vibhushan, are not on the nomination list. Quoting officials, the report said they were conferred the highest civilian award under the “public affairs” category, which falls under the government’s discretion — the list does not mention who nominated them.

The award ceremony is likely to be held later this month at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

The nomination list also included BJD MP Baijayant Panda, air hostess (the late) Neerja Bhanot, and tabla maestro Zakir Hussain.

According to the report, the maximum number of nominations were received in the name of Ram Rahim, who has also produced and starred in three movies. Bhanot, who was killed during a hijack in 1986, was nominated by BJP MP from Chandigarh Kirron Kher. A biopic on the airhostess, starring Sonam Kapoor, was released last year.

The Home Ministry has not cited reasons for rejecting the names. The search committee, set up to screen the nominations, comprised the Cabinet Secretary, Secretary to the President, Additional Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Home Secretary, actor Waheeda Rehman, journalist and MP Dr Harivansh; political analyst S Gurumurthy; and, badminton player turned coach Pullela Gopichand among others.

Other prominent personalities in the list are:

Justice Amitava Roy, Supreme Court judge, who was part of the bench that convicted former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s aide, V K Sasikala, in a disproportionate assets case.

Radha Vinod Raju (posthumous), NIA’s founding chief, who was nominated by one Bhaarath Chandresh Shah from Chennai.

Manoj Bajpayee, actor (recommended from Bihar).

Jaya Bachchan, actor and Rajya Sabha MP (nominated from Mumbai)

Vidhu Vinod Chopra, filmmaker (nominated from Mumbai)

Anu Malik, Music composer

Pt Ajay Pohankar, Hindustani classical vocalist (recommended by BJP MP and HRD minister Prakash Javadekar).

Ghulam Mustafa Waris Khan, Indian classical musician (nominated by BJP MP from Mumbai, Poonam Mahajan)

Dola Banerjee, Archer from West Bengal

Abhinav Bindra, former Olympic champion and shooter

Jwala Gutta, badminton player

Sonu Nigam, singer

Sridevi Kapoor, actor;