Padma Awards 2024: ‘Queen of elephants’, a burn victim to burn surgeon, 87-year-old dance guru among awardees
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The Newz Radar
New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu announced the prestigious Padma Awards on the eve of Republic Day on January 25. This year, the President has approved 132 Padma Awards, including two duo cases (in a duo case, the Award is counted as one).
Among these 132 awards, 5 are Padma Vibhushan, 17 are Padma Bhushan and 110 are Padma Shri. 30 of the awardees are women in the list, including 8 foreign persons and 9 posthumous awardees.
The Padma awards are given in various disciplines or fields like art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service etc.
Over the last two or three years, awards have been conferred upon some of India’s unsung heroes who have shown exceptional skill, resilience and determination in the work that they do. Their unwavering passion for their cause has made India proud and has shown light in times of darkness. Here are some of those stories-
Badrappan M
Badrappan M is an 87-year-old dance guru of a regional folk dance called Valli Oyil Kummi, predominant in Coimbatore. Through this dance, he addresses social issues and spreads knowledge of Indian history and mythology.
The Valli Oyil Kummi Folk Dance is a majorly performed by males and is a male-dominated art form. But Badrappan, a believer in women’s empowerment breaks from the shackles of tradition and trained women artists too in this dance form. He receives Padma Shri in Art (Dance-Folk).
Prema Dhanraj
Prema Dhanraj is a 72-year-old Plastic Reconstructive Surgeon Social Worker from Karnataka. She burned herself at the age of 8 when a stove burst on her face while playing in the kitchen. She suffered 50 per cent burns and underwent more than 14 surgeries as a child, but this does not break her spirit.
She founded Agni Raksha NGO as a surgeon and provided free surgery to 25,000 burn victims. As part of her global humanitarian efforts, established Ethiopia’s 1st burns unit, and educated doctors in Kenya, Tanzania, Norway, and Ethiopia.
She receives Padma Shri in the field of Medicine (Indigenous Burns).
Gurvinder Singh
Gurvinder Singh, 53, a differently-able Social Worker from Sirsa, Haryana. He worked for the betterment of the homeless, destitute, women, orphans, and differently able people. He has also been awarded Padma Shri in the field of Social Work (Divyang or differently-able).
Singh was paralysed after being hit by a truck, but this doesn’t stop him from helping other people in need. He has provided free ambulance services to over 6000 accident victims and pregnant women.
Parbati Baruah
Parbati Baruah, also known as Hathi ki Pari (Fairy of Elephant) or Queen of Elephant is India’s first elephant mahout from Assam. She overcame stereotypes to create a space for herself, which is said to be a male-dominated field.
She started taming the wild elephants at the age of 14, a skill that she learned from her father.
The 67-year-old stood out for her commitment to mitigating human-elephant conflict with the help of the application of scientific practices – assisted 3 state governments to tackle and capture wild elephants. She is awarded Padma Shri in the field of Social Work (Animal Welfare).
These awards will be conferred by the President at ceremonial functions which are held at Rastrapati Bhawan usually around March/April every year.
