Moily, Hande to get lifetime achievement awards for contribution to politics

The Sansad Ratna Awards were constituted by Prime Point Foundation on the suggestion of former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam

Senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily and BJP's H V Hande from Tamil Nadu were on Tuesday selected for the lifetime achievement award for their contribution to Indian politics by a private foundation that also chose 11 MPs for recognition, for their performance in Parliament.

The Sansad Ratna Awards, constituted by Prime Point Foundation on the suggestion of former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, for 2022 was chosen by a jury headed by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal and co-chaired by former Chief Election Commission T S Krishnamurthy.

The jury has chosen eight Lok Sabha and three Rajya Sabha MPs for the Sansad Ratna Awards 2022. In addition, four Standing Committees have also been nominated for special awards.

NCP's Supriya Sule, RSP's N K Premachandran and Shiv Sena's Shrirang Appa Barne have been nominated for 'Sansad Vishisht Ratna' award for their "sustained outstanding performance" while Bidyut Baran Mahato (BJP, Jharkhand), Kuldeep Rai Sharma (Congress, Andaman and Nicobar Islands), Dr Heena Gavit (BJP, Maharashtra), Saugata Roy (Trinamool Congress, West Bengal) and Sudhir Gupta (BJP, Madhya Pradesh) have been nominated for 'Sansad Ratna' awards for their performance in the 17th Lok Sabha.

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From Rajya Dr Amar Patnaik (BJD, Odisha) and Dr Fauzia Tahseen Ahmed Khan (NCP, Maharashtra) have been chosen for awards. KK Ragesh (CPM, Kerala) is nominated for the award under the ‘Retired Members in 2021’ category for his outstanding performance.

The Departmentally Related Standing Committees (DRSC)—Agriculture, Finance, Labour and Education—were chosen for their outstanding cumulative performance.

K Srinivasan, the Founder and Chairman of Prime Point Foundation and Sansad Ratna Awards Committee, said that 75 top-performing Parliamentarians have been honoured with Sansad Ratna awards, which were instituted on the suggestion of Dr Kalam. The first award function was held in 2010 in Chennai and Dr Kalam himself launched the initiative. The 12th edition of the award will be handed over on March 26 in Delhi, he said.

Priyadarshini Rahul, Trustee Secretary of Prime Point Foundation and President of the Sansad Ratna Awards Committee, said the nominations have been made based on the cumulative performance of the members from the beginning of 17th Lok Sabha till the end of Winter Session 2021 and based on data provided by PRS Legislative Research.