A WORD CALLED AWARD IS OFTEN DUBIOUS

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

A word called ‘award’ is putting a vicious effect on Non-Resident-Oriyas (NROs) at the moment as a private organization masked with a retired IAS officer is ignoring justified suggestions from Oriyas abroad to postpone its proposed “Prabashi Prativa Samman” till all the NROs are made aware of this and a clear, unambiguous and open policy on its selection and administration is formulated, debated and adopted.

The very concept of “Prabashi Prativa Samman” is fuzzy and frivolous specifically as it is bound to be remote controlled. A few persons, self-appointed or self-proclaimed or mutually so enshrined as office-bearers of a private body, sitting at Bhuabaneswar or in any private corner of Orissa will decide as to who is the most genius amongst the NROs staying in USA and other foreign countries is bound to be remote controlled sans an open and frank policy, viewable and reviewable and therefore, is itself a dubious proposition. Nepotism or favoritism may not be guiding the selection, but it cannot be said that there shall not be any role thereof.

Therefore, it seems reasonable that the “Prabashi Prativa Samman” should be postponed till all the NROs feel that thereby no trick is going to be played on them and till their relations back home also feel so.

The NROs are our dearest ones living abroad in order to bag for our land prosperity. In their own way, all of them are trying to make the best of their contribution to betterment of Orissa. In the guise of this award, germs of jealousy should not be released in their midst.

Now-a-days awards are not given. Awards are grabbed. I have shown in these pages how India’s highest civilian awards, Padma awards and Bharataratna, are manipulated and grabbed.

When awards thus are lobby-led, sensible people should always insist on avoidance of lay choice. Awards are often dubious but always they need not to be outrageous.

Therefore the proposed award of “Prabashi Prativa Samman” should be kept in abeyance till a credible code of its administration is formulated, debated and adopted.

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