Padma awards and recipient’s consent

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About Padma Awards-

• The Padma awards are the highest civilian honour of India after the Bharat Ratna. 
• They are announced every year on the eve of Republic Day. 
• The awards are given in three categories: 
  1. Padma Vibhushan (for exceptional and distinguished service).
  2. Padma Bhushan (distinguished service of higher order) and 
  3. Padma Shri (distinguished service). 

• The award seeks to recognise achievements in all fields of activities or disciplines where an element of public service is involved.

• The awards are given in certain select categories which include Art, Social Work, Public Affairs, Science & Engineering, Trade & Industry, Medicine, Literature & Education, Civil Service and Sports. 
• Awards are also given for propagation of Indian culture, protection of human rights, wildlife protection among others.
• The PADMA Awards were instituted in 1954 along with Bharat Ratna. 
• At that time only Padma Vibhushan existed with three sub-categories – Pahela Varg, Dusra Varg and Tisra Varg. 
• These were subsequently renamed as Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri vide Presidential Notification issued on January 8, 1955. 
• During the years 1978 and 1979 and 1993 to 1997, Padma awards were not announced.
• The awardees do not get any cash reward but a certificate signed by the President apart from a medallion which they can wear at public and government functions. 
• The awards are, however, not a conferment of title and the awardees are expected to not use them as prefix or suffix to their names.
• A Padma awardee can be given a higher award only after five years of the conferment of the earlier award.
• Not more than 120 awards can be given in a year but this does not include posthumous awards or awards given to NRIs and foreigners. 
• The award is normally not conferred posthumously. However, in highly deserving cases, the Government could consider giving such an award.
• All persons without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex are eligible for these awards. However, government servants including those working with PSUs, except doctors and scientists, are not eligible.
• According to Padma awards selection criteria, the award is given for “special services” and not just for “long service”. It should not be merely excellence in a particular field, but the criteria has to be ‘excellence plus’.
• Any citizen of India can nominate a potential recipient. One can even nominate one’s own self. 
• All nominations are to be done online where a form is to be filled along with details of the person or the organization being nominated. 
• An 800-word essay detailing the work done by the potential awardee is also to be submitted for the nomination to be considered.
• All nominations received for Padma awards are placed before the Padma Awards Committee, which is constituted by the Prime Minister every year. 
• The Padma Awards Committee is headed by the Cabinet Secretary and includes Home Secretary, Secretary to the President and four to six eminent persons as members. 
• The recommendations of the committee are submitted to the Prime Minister and the President of India for approval.

Recipient’s consent for the award-

• There is no provision for seeking a written or formal consent of the recipient before announcement of the award. 

• However, before the announcement, every recipient receives a call from the Ministry of Home Affairs informing him or her about the selection. 
• In case the recipient expresses a desire to be excluded from the award list, the name is removed.
• In the case of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that a call was made to his residence informing about the conferment of the award. 

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