Indian National Awards

One week before Indepen-dence on August 31, Indians in the country will launch their own national awards — The Order of Trinidad and Tobago. A release from the Global Organisation of  People of Indian Origin, signed by Parsuram Maharaj, the group’s president, said the move was a rejection of what he termed the “Christian bias” of the present national awards system, in particular, the Trinity Cross, which is the highest national award. The launch takes place on the eve of Independence on Monday August 30, at the Divali Nagar site in Chaguanas.

Maharaj said, “The selection of the date was important as it falls the day before the anniversary of the Independence of Trinidad and Tobago. The national annual Independence celebration is marked with the recognition of outstanding citizens with national awards. “Over the past years the Indian population have been significantly under-represented in these awards. The reason for this has been construed as chiefly political, racial and religious in nature.” Maharaj said for years Indians have been rejecting the Trinity Cross and calling for a new system of national awards that reflects the diverse nature of Trinidad and Tobago society. President Max Richards is to be invited today to attend next Monday’s function, but sources said it was unlikely he would attend a function that rejects national awards and runs parallel to the annual national ceremony, scheduled for Tuesday August 31 when he hands out awards under the traditional Order of The Trinity.

Sat Maharaj, head of Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, which represents the majority of Hindus in Trinidad and Tobago, voiced his full support for the Indian awards. He told Newsday the generations of struggle by SDMS would have been realised, even if it wasn’t acknowledged by the Government.  He said his organisation has no objection whatsoever, and maybe the new awards would be better than the national awards, since orthodox Hindus will accept neither the  Trinity Cross nor the Independence Day awards. He pointed out that the SDMS, under different administrations, had been advocating for a revision of the awards. He said even the general population had accepted the call for the change. Former Chief Justice Michael de la Bastide, who was chairman of the awards committee during his tenure as Chief Justice, had also said a review was necessary. Several prominent Hindus who were nominated for national awards in the past, including the Trinity Cross, have turned down the award.

Kelvin Ramnath, MP for Couva South, will be the feature speaker at next Monday’s ceremony. Maharaj said the most recent figures from the Central Statistical Office (CSO) indicated that for the first time Indians were now in the majority in Trinidad and Tobago, representing 40 percent of the population with Afro Trinidadians at 37 percent and Mixed at 20 percent. The CSO figures also revealed a drop in the percentage of Christians in the country. Catholics were down from 29 percent to 26 percent and Anglicans from 11 to 7 percent, he said. The Hindus had dropped one point from 23-22 percent, and the Pentecostals had shown no significant growth. The figures, he added, revealed that people were identifying more and more with religions such as Rastafarianism and Bobo Shanti.