Three Goan-origin recipients this year is a moment of pride for the diaspora
Every year, around this time, our attention goes to the Padma Awards. It’s a marker both of who our achievers are that get recognised, and also how the various states fit into the scheme of things. This year, Dr Armida Fernandes, the neonatologist behind Asia’s first human milk bank and a member of the Goan diaspora, made our state proud by earning the Padma Shri. In parallel, two Goan-origin lieutenant generals—Sumer Ivan D’Cunha and Michael Anthony Jude Fernandes—were bestowed military honours by way of the Param Vishisht Seva Medals. This is also a reminder for us back in Goa to recall the contribution of those who might be geographically some distance from home.
The Padma honours cover fields like arts, literature, public affairs, science, medicine and social service. Dr Fernandes is the daughter of the late educationist and writer Armando Menezes, and traces her roots to Divar. Our military personnel also have their kin in Goa, who were naturally proud of receiving the honour.
Others have earned such credit in the past, ranging from cartoonist Mario Miranda, renowned painter Laxman Pai, litterateur Ravindra Kelekar, folklorist Vinayak V Khedekar, scholar Jose Pereira, and ex-CM/defence minister Manohar Parrikar. Also awarded were freedom fighter Libia Lobo Sardesai, editor Lambert Mascarenhas (a founding co-editor of this paper), freedom fighter-ambassador Vaman Sardessai, green lawyer Norma Alvares, and fashion designer Wendell Rodricks. Decorated military officers with roots in Goa have included Air Vice Marshal Erlic Wilmot Pinto, PVSM; former Army Chief, General Sunith Rodrigues, PVSM, VSM; 2nd Lt Jayendra Jaisingh Rane, VC; Major Ivan Joseph Crasto, Kirti Chakra; besides more.
Since its 1954 launch, the Padma Awards were part of the new Indian Republic’s effort to create a civil honours system distinct from colonial titles. These were briefly suspended in 1977–80 and 1992–95, amid debates over elitism and constitutional equality. But the courts affirmed that they are honorifics, not titles.
Their conceptual roots may lie in the old British Indian honours system (such as the Orders of the Star of India, Indian Empire, knighthoods, Kaisar-i-Hind medal). Yet, the Padma Awards were a deliberate post-colonial rejection of imperial hierarchies; loyalty to the empire was replaced with service to a democratic republic.
This time, Maharashtra leads with 15 awards, Tamil Nadu is second with 13, followed by UP and West Bengal with 11 each. Kerala got eight. (Incidentally, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala are going to polls this year.) Officially, Goa has got none. Being based in Mumbai, Dr Armida’s name was listed under Maharashtra state.
Sometimes, state awards can be seen as arising from a mix of merit and power. Governments decide the final list, and hence one can be tempted to read patterns. Certain years have a lot of artists, scientists and social workers; other years feel like a roll call of ideological allies, party loyalists or convenient symbolic choices. Changes of regime often bring shifts in emphasis: freedom fighters and Gandhian figures in earlier decades, technocrats and cultural icons later, or those closer to the dominant narrative. Critics read regional imbalances, delayed recognition of dissenting intellectuals, and posthumous awards used as retrospective validation. Yet, many recipients have been unquestionably deserving, sometimes long overdue. It might be fair to say that such recognitions are a hybrid of prestige, symbolism and grace. Like a public monument, they tell us as much about the moment in which they are erected as about the people whose names are carved into stone.
