Padma award winners: Thinker, bishop, tribal healer

Thiruvananthapuram: A leading Hindutva thinker, a hugely popular Christian bishop, a tribal traditional healer and a palliative care specialist are among the Padma awardees from Kerala. 

Music director Ilaiyaraaja, cricketer and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are among the 85 personalities named for the 2018 Padma Awards by the Home Ministry.

Ilaiyaraaja, MS Dhoni and cueist Pankaj Advani received the Padma Vibhushan -- the nation's third highest civilian award.

In an "unprecedented and symbolic gesture of India ASEAN bonding" Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also announced Padma Shri awards for one individual from each ASEAN country.

P. Parameswaran, 91, considered as the senior most Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak and ideologue, and already a Padma Shri winner was on Thursday named as the Padma Vibhushan award winner,.

Parameswaran, a bachelor, came in touch with the RSS during his student days and became a RSS pracharak in 1950.

He served as the organising secretary of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1957 and later became vice president of the Jan Sangh.

He was jailed during the Emergency and after that he moved from politics to social thought and development and became the Director at the New Delhi-based Deendayal Research Institute.

In 1982, he shifted base to his home state and gave shape to a new organisation, Bharatiya Vichara Kendra, and continues as its Director to date.

Philipose Mar Chrysostom Mar Thoma Metropolitan of the Mar Thomas Syrian Church of India, who completes 100 years in April, was selected for the Padma Bhushan award.

Chrysostom Metropolitan — as he is referred to — has won the Padma Bhushan.

Despite his age, he travels and attends meetings and is a much sought after speaker not just in Churches but across clubs and other organisations because of his wit and humour-laced oratory.

He was ordained as a priest in 1944 and became a bishop in 1953 and went on to head the Church as its Metropolitan in 1999 before voluntarily stepping down as the head of the church in 2007.

A 75-year-old tribal woman, Lekshmikutty, living in Vidhura near the state capital inside the forest and preparing herbal medicines to cure snake and insect bites, has been awarded the Padma Shri.

She gives lectures on traditional medicine and is a teacher at the Kerala Folklore Academy at Kallar near here and lectures on how she learned the art of her medicines from her mother.
Seventy-year-old M.R. Rajagopal, a medical professional who runs a palliative care unit for specialised medical and nursing care for people with life-limiting illnesses or terminal illnesses in the state capital, has been chosen for the Padma Shri.
He has specialised in pain-free neonatal surgeries and brought down post-surgical neonatal deaths from 75 to 28 per cent in the 1980s.
Rajagopal is credited to have set up India's first palliative care unit in Kozhikode in Kerala in 1993 and introduced safe anaesthesiology procedures. He is ranked among the top 30 anaesthesiologists globally.

New Delhi: In an unprecedented move to promote India-Asean ties under New Delhi's Act East Policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday announced awarding of the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, to one achiever from each of the regional bloc's 10 member states.

Stating that "in an unprecedented and symbolic gesture" of India-Asean bonding and on the occasion of silver jubilee of the India-Asean Dialogue Partnership and India's Republic Day, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted that Modi "announced Padma Shri award for one individual from each Asean country".

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Modi's announcement came as New Delhi on Thursday hosted a Commemorative Summit to mark 25 years of the India-Asean Dialogue Partnership.

Those achievers who have been named for the award are:

Haji Abdullah Bin MalaiHaji Othman of Brunei for medicine;
Hun Many of Cambodia for public affairs;
Nyoman Nuarta of Indonesia for art;
Bounlap Keokangna of Laos for art;
Thant Myint-U of Myanmar for public affairs;
Jose Ma Joey Concepcion of the Philippines for trade and industry;
Tommy Koh of Singapore for public affairs;
Somdet Phra Ariya WongsaKhottayan of Thailand who is the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand;
and Nguyen Tien Thien of Vietnam who is the Secretary General of the National Vietnam Buddhist Sangha.

The heads of state or government of all the 10 Asean nations participated in Thursday's Commemorative Summit.

On Friday, in what will be an unprecedented first, all these leaders will collectively attend this year's Republic Day celebrations as guests of honour.