Nation honours 4 Malayalis with Padma awards

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two of the top honours of the country came to Kerala when the central government announced the Padma awards on the eve of Republic Day.
The director of Bharatiya Vichara Kendra, P Parameswaran, has been named for Padma Vibhushan, the second-biggest civilian award. The nonagenarian is the senior-most RSS pracharak in the country.
The central government has also decided to confer Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award, on Philipose Mar Chrysostom, the longest serving bishop in the country.
Parameswaran, who celebrated his 'navathi' (90th birthday) in 2017, expressed happiness over getting the recognition. "I am very happy to receive this award. Earlier I had received Padma Shri award,'' the RSS ideologue said.
In keeping up with its word to honour unsung heroes, the government decided to award the Padma Shri to Lakshmikutty Amma, a tribal healer from Kallar near Vithura in the district. The 75-year-old Vanamuthassi is known for preparing about 500 medicinal treatments from memory.
Specialized in poison treatment, Lakshmikutty Amma lives in a hut and she was noticed outside the forest in 1995 when the state government honoured her with the 'Nattu Vaidya Rathna' (naturopathy) award in 1995.
She now delivers lectures on natural medicine at various institutions in south Indian states.
Incidentally, the central government had in 2017 conferred the Padma Shri on kalaripayattu gurukkal Meenakshi Amma, the oldest woman practising the traditional art form of Kerala.
Another Padma Shri recipient this year would be Dr M R Rajagopal, the director of Trivandrum Institute of Palliative Sciences, the flagship of Pallium India.
Known as the father of palliative care, he was treating patients when the news of the national honour reached him on Thursday. "This recognition gives me more courage to work more," he said.
Dr Rajagopal is one of the founders of Kozhikode-based Pain and Palliative Care Society, which became a WHO demonstration project and grew to the present Institute of Palliative Medicine with a network of over 100 palliative care centers in Kerala and outside.