Kolkata, Jan 27 (FN Agency) Santoor Maestro Tarun Bhattacharya has expressed his surprise at some of the selections made for the 2021 Padma Awards declared on the Republic Day on January 26. In a statement here, he said, “I congratulate the recipients of the Padma Awards 2021 declared by the Union Government today, but at the same time I am truly appalled and dismayed by the criteria and the basis of such selection.
Yes, I am extremely disappointed by the fact that the Government has not shown much respect to achievements in the last few years and I am afraid a proper selection process or screening is not done by the concerned authorities.” “In my field of Indian Classical Music, important and path breaking contributions made by me as creating new ragas ( I created 2 new ragas in the last 4 years) or contributing towards Nation’s causes, grooming future musicians and many more have been overlooked for years now and it seems other considerations are at play while making such selections.