Padma Awards: Baba Ramdev's name wasn't shortlisted, says MHA

New Delhi, Jan 28: Days after Baba Ramdev declined from accepting the prestigious Padma Vibhushan award, the Ministry of Home Affairs has reportedly clarified that yoga guru's name was never on the Padma Awards list.

As per a report published in The Economic Times, a senior official was quoted as saying, "Ramdev was not considered for the Padma awards this year. His name was not on the short-list and did not feature at any earlier stage of discussions."

The official also claimed that Singh had personally called up 7-8 personalities informing them about government's decision to confer the Padma Vibhushan, country's second highest civilian award, on them and that the yoga guru was not among those who were called by the minister.

Earlier, Baba Ramdev wrote a letter to Home Minister Rajnath Singh asking him not to confer him with the second highest civilian honour in the country.

The President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 26 January 2015 approved the conferment of Padma Awards 2015 on 104 persons from the fields of activities including art, social work, public affairs, science, trade, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.

Senior BJP leader LK Advani, actors Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will be conferred with Padma Vibhushan, media reports said.

The 2015 list of Padma Awardees comprises of 9 Padma Vibhushan, 20 Padma Bhushan and 75 Padma Shri Awardees. Out of these 104 awardees, 17 of the awardees are women.

The awards will be conferred in March/April 2015 at a ceremonial function in Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

OneIndia News