'Vaikom Vijayalakshmi, Mammootty...'; Five Malayalees not on govt's list ended up getting Padma awards

KOCHI: Out of the 20 nominated names by the Kerala government for the 2024 Padma Awards, the central government considered only two. Those two were Writer M.T. Vasudevan Nair and hockey player P.R. Sreejesh. MT was honoured with a posthumous Padma Vibhushan and Sreejesh the Padma Bhushan.

Singer luminary K.S Chithra was nominated for Padma Vibhushan while legendary actor Mammootty and writer T. Padmanabhan for Padma Bhushan. Prof. M.K. Sanu, C. Radhakrishnan, singer Vaikom Vijayalakshmi, Soorya Krishnamurthy, businessman T.S. Kalyanaraman and sportsperson Padmini Thomas were nominated by the state for Padma awards. Albeit this, five Malayalees who were not on the list received Padma awards.

Cardiac surgeon Jose Chacko Periappuram, musician K. Omanakutty, football player I.M. Vijayan, Supreme Court Advocate C.S. Vaidyanathan and actress Shobhana, who were not on the list formed by the Kerala government, ended up getting the Padma awards.

Ministers Saji Cherian, K. Rajan, K. Krishnankutty, AK Saseendran, KB Ganesh Kumar, Roshy Augustine, Ramachandran Kadanapalli and former Chief Secretary V. Venu were on the committee that prepared the list.

Nominations for Padma Awards should be submitted online before September 15 through the Central Government's Awards Portal and through a letter from the Chief Secretary to the Union Home Secretary by the end of August.

Other names recommended by Kerala for Padma awards:

1) Palliyara Sreedharan----Literature

2) Thiruvizha Jayashankar----Art (Music)

3) Kalamandalam Chandran----Art(Temple percussionist)

4) K. Jayakumar----Civil Service

5) Dr. T.K. Jayakumar----Health

6) Dr. Rajan Joseph Manjooran----Health

7) Fr. Davis Chiramel----Social Service

8) Punalur Somarajan----Social Service

9) Vanidas Elavayoor----Education