(Photo left: Awardees with T S Krishnamurthy and N Gopalswamy, Former Chief Election Commissioners in the first Award event in May 2010 | Photo right:
(Photo left: Awardees with T S Krishnamurthy and N Gopalswamy, Former Chief Election Commissioners in the first Award event in May 2010 | Photo right: The Awardees with Hon’ble President at Rashtrapati Bhavan in Feb 2024)
Sansad Ratna Awards: A 15-Year Triumph, from Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya to Rashtrapati Bhavan 2010-2024
By Prime Point Srinivasan, Managing Editor
(The Sansad Ratna Awards, initiated in 2009, have honoured top-performing Indian Parliamentarians, gaining visibility and credibility over 15 years. The 2024 event highlighted the need for academic research on Parliament functions.)
This Editorial was published in the February 2024 edition of PreSense
15 Year Journey
The initiative of honouring top-performing Indian
Parliamentarians, which began in March
2009 at the suggestion of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam through the eMagazine
PreSense and later a physical event in 2010 at Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya in
Chennai, has now reached the corridors of Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi in 2024.
This challenging 15-year journey has enriched our team with more knowledge and
commitment to Indian democracy.
We have presented 121 Awards to individuals and
Committees in the 14 Award functions. On the suggestion of Dr. Abdul Kalam, we
featured top-performing Parliamentarians of the 14th Lok Sabha in the March
2009 edition of eMagazine PreSense. In May 2010, the first Award function was
held at Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya, Chennai before a limited audience. After that,
IIT Madras became our partner until 2018. In 2019, the Award event was held at
Raj Bhavan, Chennai. After a break in 2020 due to Covid, we shifted the event
to Delhi in 2021. We gained a lot of visibility in the past four years, after moving
the event to Delhi. The Sansad Ratna
Award has become a dream award for many Parliamentarians.
Need for academic research
The 14th Edition of the Award function was held in New
Delhi in February 2024. Every year, we appeal to the Parliamentarians and the
Government during the Award event on a point of concern. This year, we highlighted the lack of
academic research by Indian Universities on Parliament-related functions. This
is probably due to a lack of awareness about the function of the Parliament and
the lack of knowledgeable professors. In a growing, largest Parliamentary
democracy like India, it is highly important that academic institutions focus
on the insights of governance. On behalf of the Prime Point Foundation and the
Next Gen Political Leaders (NGPL), another initiative of the Foundation, we
have assured support to academic institutions and researchers who want to
research the functioning of the Indian Parliament.
The credibility of the Award has also reached its
peak. For the past four years, the Sansad Ratna Awards has been one of the
suggested questions for the UPSC examinations by trainers. In 2023, Prime
Minister Modi tweeted on his personal Twitter handle, greeting the Awardees. In
2024, the Honorable President and Vice President had photo sessions with the
Awardees. During the Photo Session, the Hon’ble
President keenly listened to the history of the Sansad Ratna Awards. Hon’ble President took individual photographs
with all the Sansad Ratna Award winners and also with us.
The 14th edition of the award function was a grand
spectacle, overcoming various challenges. As we consistently believe, the
divine influence of Lord Sri Krishna has been instrumental in our success. We
dedicate our achievements to Lord Sri Krishna, acknowledging His unwavering
support over the past 15 years.
As the 2024 General Elections near for the 18th Lok
Sabha, the nation should elect Parliamentarians who can strengthen democracy. Jai
Hind
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