Meet 9 Indians Who Deserve A Padma Award More Than Ramdev

1. Sarathbabu Elumalai

Do you have the guts to reject handsome packages after earning a degree from IIT and start a business venture with just sheer determination? Well, that is exactly what Sarathbabu Elumalai did! His urge to get recognition and be admired for his efforts, and not just be another face in the crowd set him on his journey to riches. Hailing from a poor family, with his strong academics, Sarathbabu managed to top his classes and got admission in first BITS Pilani and then IIM-A. However, rejecting offers for lucrative jobs, he decided to open his own catering service. The pay was small and the hours hard but Sarathbabu finally figured out his deals and after struggling for a couple of years managed making profits. He is now aiming at a turnover of Rs 20 crore and aims to create over 1 lakh jobs.

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2. Sindhutai Sapkal

Fondly called 'Mother of Orphans', Sindhutai Sapkal has done what no woman would perhaps ever dream of doing - she gave up her biological child so that her adopted children wouldn't feel insecure.

Born in a small village in Maharashtra, Sindhutai Sapkal was married off to a 32 year old man at the age of 10 and by the age of 20, she had given birth to 3 sons. Being a woman, she dared to question a local strongman fleecing the villagers in cow-dung trade. While her agitation was successful, the strongman managed to turn her husband against her who then dumped a heavily pregnant Sindhutai. She delivered her daughter all by herself in a cow-shed and went to her mother's place from where she was asked to return to her husband's home. Left with no other option, Sindhutai began begging. And it was through begging that she discovered hundreds of children who are destitute and orphaned. She adopted them all and began providing for them. In order to maintain equality between all her children, Sindhutai donated her daughter to Shrimant Dagdu Sheth Halwai, Pune. Many of her adopted children are today successful in life and have high profile careers of doctors and engineers!

The Better India

3. Dashrath Manjhi

Fondly known as the Mountain Man, Dashrath Manjhi moved mountains for his love. Literally!

Born to a poor labourer family in Gehlaur, he carved a 360-foot-long path through a treacherous mountain in his hometown so his village could have closer and better access to medical facilities which were otherwise 70 km away. In 1967, Dashrath's wife was injured and needed immediate medical attention. However, due to the long distance between their village and the closest town with a doctor, timely help was unavailable and his wife passed away. Since then, Dashrath toiled to carve a path through the mountain which brought down the distance between his village and the nearest town to 13 km. His efforts were appreciated by the government and post his death in 2007, he received a state funeral by the government of Bihar. Though his name was proposed for the Padma Shri by the Bihar government in 2006, he was not awarded the honour.

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4. Saalumarada Thimmakka

Saalumarada Thimmakka is an Indian environmentalist who became one without any conscious thought or effort. Saalumarada Thimmakka lives in Hulikal village in Bengaluru and is a daily wage labourer by profession. Banyan trees were available in plenty in her village and Thimmakka and her husband began grafting saplings from these trees and planting them alongside the road connecting to their closest village. They grafted 10 saplings in the first year and the number slowly grew. She planted a total of 284 banyan trees! Saalumarada Thimmakka has been awarded by the government and her efforts have been widely appreciated.

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5. Jadav Payeng

Jadav Payeng is a resident of Assam and the creator of a complete forest!

In 1979, Jadav found a lot of dead snakes that had died due to the high heat in the area after being washed up on the Jorhat sandbar. He felt pity for these creatures and planted around 20 bamboo seedlings in the sandbar for shade and to protect these helpless creatures. He started working on the forest in 1980 when the social forestry division of Golaghat district launched a scheme of tree plantation on 200 hectares at Aruna Chapori situated at a distance of 5 km from Kokilamukh in Jorhat district. Even after the project ended, he stayed on caring for the plants and trees, and even planted some more on his own to convert the area into a forest. Now known as Molai Forest, it houses many creatures like Bengal tigers, Indian rhinoceros, deer, rabbits, apes and several varieties of birds, including a large number of vultures.

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6. Arunima Sinha

Arunima Sinha is the first female amputee to climb Mount Everest.

A national level volleyball and football player, Arunima Sinha was pushed out of a train by petty robbers who wanted to snatch her chain and her bag when she tried resisting them. As she fell on the tracks, a train coming from the other side crushed her leg below the knee. After multiple surgeries and with the help of a prosthetic leg, she got back on her feet. While still being treated, she decided to climb Mount Everest and her family supported her ambition. She even contacted Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to scale the peak and after a lot of training, she finally scaled Everest in 2013. It took her 52 days to accomplish this feat.

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7. Naga Naresh Karutura

Naga Naresh Karutura was born in a small village and lost both his legs in an accident. However, his thirst for knowledge did not die and he continued to be cheerful and take life head-on. After studying hard, he managed a seat at IIT Madras from where he graduated and post his graduation, now works at Google.

Naga Naresh Karutura is the best example of how life might throw challenges your way but instead of bowing down, you should fight back. And yes, nothing is impossible if you really want to achieve it.

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8. Sunitha Krishnan

Sunitha Krishnan faced the horror every Indian girl reads about in the papers every morning and dreads coming face to face with: rape. At the age of 15, Krishnan was gang-raped by 8 men and it was this incident that pushed her into aiding those affected by the horror of such an incident. Krishnan, after completing her PhD on human trafficking and prostitution, set up Prajwala, an organisation which supports prostitutes and also aids in their rescue and rehabilitation. Krishnan has won multiple awards and was even invited to speak onstage during the TED India conference.

A Celebration of Women

9. Jaswantiben Jamnadas Popat

Jaswantiben Jamnadas Popat, one of the creators of Lijjat papad which is a household name in India today, started out on the terrace of a small building. With 6 of her friends, she made 4 packets of papad and then went to a local, known grocery store owner in Bhuleshwar to peddle her wares. In just one year, the number of women working at Lijjat Papad increased from 7 to 25 and the number kept growing.

Lijjat was set up by the Gujarati women as a means of sustenance with the only skill they knew: cooking. With no compromise on quality and a shrewd business model, the women's efforts paid fruit and Lijjat today is a global brand.