TODAY -
No Best Civilian amongst 1.2 Billion people - Bharat Ratna Evaluation needs Transparency
Times of Assam | Priyankan Goswami | Date- January 26, 2012:
Mother Teresa was awarded the Bharat Ratna after she became recipient of Nobel Prize for peace in 1979. If Irom Sharmila of Manipur gets the Nobel Peace prize for her more than decade long hunger strike to scrap a draconian inhuman Indian law called AFSPA, will the Indian State who always considered her efforts not more than mere suicide attempts, have the courage to award her the country’s highest civilian award?
India has only 3 civilians in the last 11 years who were good enough to be awarded with the highest civilian award of the nation. Whether we are really an incompetent bunch of 1.2 billion people or plain cowardice of the Indian Government to make a decision in favour of some nominee, least it might affect emotions of those rooting for someone else to be crowned,- no one knows. The sad part lies in the fact that we are not questioning. Expressing shock, grief or surprise at someone not being awarded does not mean that one is questioning the system.
Ever since the Bharat Ratna, which translates to Jewel of India in English, was established by Rajendra Prasad, President of India on 2 January 1954, it has been often a matter of debate and criticism.
For a country obsessed with regionalism and emotionalism; where people fight over the pettiest issues like naming or renaming a street or building over their own favorite leader, Bharat Ratna has been a troubled decoration. The biggest problem probably lies in the fact that there is no formal criterion by virtue of which any person is decorated with the Jewel of India. Have a look at the list of 41 names that have been awarded with a Bharat Ratna and comparing them against each other, at least in terms of skill sets, would be comparing apples to oranges. They all were probably great people, but how do you define whether they were the greatest or greater than others whose names were also nominated but never made it.
Today it should not actually matter to us who is awarded unless; we know the process of evaluation. If we continue to be satisfied with statements and reasons from the Indian Government such as Mr. X has been awarded the Bharat Ratna because of making the country proud and bring tears of pride or smiles of happiness through his excellence, we should very well accept it if Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the Bharat Ratna this year (for he too made most of us proud and brought tears and smiles together when he hit that final Six to the stands making Team India the world cricket champions). Isn’t it?
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* This Post is uploaded on January 26, 2012
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