97-yr-old midwife is an R-day unsung hero
For a change, the government is honouring the common man with Padma Shri awards – people who have served the poor, set up free schools and popularised tribal arts. One such awardee this year is a 97year-old midwife Sulagatti Narasamma. She provides services to all poor people without charging a fee and has been involved in over 15000 traditional deliveries, media reports said.
Another awardee is Lakshmikutty, a tribal woman from Kerala, who can prepare 500 herbal medicine from memory and helps thousands of people, especially victims of snake and insect bite. She teaches at Kerala Folklore Academy but lives in a small hut made of palm leaves in a tribal settlement in a forest. She is the only tribal woman from her area to attend school in the 50s.Another such "unsung hero" awardee is Maharashtra's Murlikant Petkar, India's first para-Olympic gold medalist, who lost his arm in the1965 Indo-Pak war.
Padma Shri has also been awarded to Tamil Nadu's Rajagopalan Vasudevan, who is known as plastic roadmaker of India; he developed a patented and innovative method to reuse plastic waste to construct roads.Subhasini Mistry, a poor lady from rural West Bengal, who toiled 20 years as housemaid and daily labourer to build a hospital for poor in the state, is another awardee.
Another awardee is Yeshi Dhoden, monk physician of Tibetan herbal medicine working in remote areas of Himachal Pradesh.
In these times of communal strife, a worthy winner is Anwar Jalalpuri who has translated 700 shlokas from Bhagwad Gita into Urdu.
A foreigner awardee is Nouf Marwaai, the first Saudi Yoga instructor who has played an important role in legalising the discipline in Saudi Arabia.