NEW DELHI: In what seems to be a drive to remove Nehruvian symbols from Indian polity, the National Democratic Alliance Government has begun erasing names from Nehru-Gandhi family that prefixed many national awards.
An official said the move should not be seen as politically motivated, but as a purely administrative decision to make the awards more useful.
Similar reasoning was given by the Home Ministry when it changed the name of Indira Gandhi Rajbhasha Puraskar and Rajiv Gandhi Rashtriya Gyan-Vigyan Maulik Pustak Lekhan Puraskar, launched more than two decades ago, to Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar and Rajbhasha Gaurav Puraskar, respectively.
Efforts are also on to end the delay in giving these awards to show the government’s seriousness and commitment to protecting the environment.
The ministry now plans to do away with one big national award ceremony in the capital. It might hold separate award ceremonies in main cities at regular intervals.
The green awards for 2013 and 2014 are yet to be given and the Ministry has now invited tenders for up to 10 Silver Lotus Trophies for the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar (IGPP).
This national award instituted in 1987 carries two cash prizes of `5 lakh each, and under the individual category - three prizes of `5 lakh, `3 lakh and `2 lakh each.
There were also reports that the NDA Government was trying to remove Pandit Nehru’s name from the JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) scheme, Indira Gandhi’s name from Indira Awas Yojna and Rajiv Gandhi’s name from university programmes and schemes, but so far the government has not moved any proposal in this regard.