Padma winners: Those who shone, away from the spotlight

77-year-old Dr Munishwer Chander Dawar for instance is a war veteran who took voluntary retirement from the army, and started providing medical treatment to people for ₹2 in 1972, and even today, charges a minimal cost of ₹20 per person.

From a war veteran who had dedicated his life to providing affordable healthcare to a freedom fighter who spent his life working for the poor; from a puppeteer that fought to keep his art alive, to a tribal calligrapher that teaches under-trials accused of Maoism, this year’s Padma awards honoured people that may not be household names, but have been making a quiet difference.

56-year-old Ajay Mandavi has spent the last decade teaching the tribal art of wooden calligraphy to undertrials at the Kanker district jail. (HT)

77-year-old Dr Munishwer Chander Dawar for instance is a war veteran who took voluntary retirement from the army, and started providing medical treatment to people for ₹2 in 1972, and even today, charges a minimal cost of ₹20 per person. Born in undivided Punjab on January 1946, Dr Dawar’s family moved to Jalandhar after the partition, and by 1965 he had completed his medical degree and joined the army, serving during the 1971 war. “My teacher had once told me that the medical profession is meant to serve people. These words changed the direction of my life,” Dr Dawar, who was awarded the Padma Shri, said.

Another recipient of the Padma Shri is 99-year-old freedom fighter VP Appukuttan Poduval, who spent a lifetime teaching Gandhian studies and Sanskrit. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, Poduval actively participated in the Quit-India movement, and post independence worked with Vinobha Bhave and Jayaprakash Narayan.

86-year old Maguni Charan Kuanr, the son of a landlord in Odisha’s Keonjhar, is among the few remaining proponents of the “kathi kundhei nacha”, an art form that uses wooden puppets. Kuanr, who dealt with ostracisation from his village and family, but moved around Odisha, Bhar, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal with a troupe of 10-12 artists, popularising the form. Kuanr was awarded the Padma Shri.

In neighbouring Chhattisgarh, 56-year-old Ajay Mandavi has spent the last decade teaching the tribal art of wooden calligraphy to undertrials at the Kanker district jail. “My students are mostly people that have been arrested for Maoism in Kanker jail. Since 2010 I have trained more than a 300 undertrials and not a single students has returned to Naxalism,” Mandavi said.