Karnataka names 60 persons for Rajyotsava award

Bengaluru: Karnataka on Wednesday announced its second highest civilian hounour -- the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award -- to as many as 60 eminent personalities, including senior advocate at the Supreme court, K.N. Bhat, who had represented Ram Lalla in the Allahabad High Court for three years, and noted Konkani poet, Valerian D'souza, who is known by his penname 'Vally Vagga'.

Besides 60 eminent personalities, the state also selected five organisations for their contributions in 25 fields.

Vally Vagga has been awarded and honoured by the Karnataka Sahitya Academy and Konkani Kutam Bahrain for his contribution to Konkani literature. He has been a Konkani activist with over 50 years of service in Konkani literature.

Supreme Court senior counsel Bhat is known for his arguments while he presented the Ram Lalla case, which were also upheld in the recent Supreme Court judgment, which gave its verdict in favour of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya as a "matter of faith".

The awards would be presented on November 7. They carry an amount of Rs 1 lakh, a 20-gm gold medal and a citation.

Speaking to reporters here, Kannada and Culture Minister C.T. Ravi said that Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa would present the awards at a function to be held at the Ravindra Kalakshetra in the city.

In previous years, the awards were presented on November 1 but due to the pandemic, the state government has deferred it by a week this time, the minister added.

Except in sports, all awarding winning personalities are aged above 60 years. Kabaddi player Usha Rani of Bengaluru, who won the silver medal in 2018 Asian Games, is among the winners.

The Karnataka Rajyotsava Award was instituted in 1966 to be awarded to citizens of the state in recognition of their distinguished contribution in various spheres of activity, including arts, education, industry, literature, science, sports, medicine, social service and public affairs.

It has also been awarded to some distinguished individuals who are not citizens of Karnataka but did contribute in various ways to the state. The award was not conferred in 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980 and 2009.

Each award carries an amount of Rs 100,000, a 20 gm gold medal and a citation. But sometimes, in addition to this, the state government has in the past allotted commercial land to eligible awardees.

The award winners are:

Literature: C.P. Siddhashrama, V. Muni Venkatappa, Ramanna Byati, Valerian D'souza, D.N. Akki.

Music: Hambaiah Nooli, Anantha Teradala, B.V. Sirnivas, Girija Narayana, K. Lingappa Sherigara.

Judiciary: K.N. Bhat, M. K. Vijayakumar.

Media: C. Maheshwaran, T. Venkatesh.

Yoga: A.S. Chandrashekara.

Education: M.N. Shadakshari, R. Ramakrishna, M.G. Eshwarappa, Ashok Shettar, D.S. Dandin.

Outside Karnataka: Kusumodharaderanna Shetty, Vidyasimhacharya Mahuli.

Miscellaneous: K.V. Raju, Nam Venkoba Rao, K.S. Rajanna, V. Laxminarayana.

Organisations: Youth For Seva, Bengaluru City, Devadasi Swavalambana Kendra, Ballari, Better India, Benglauru City, Yuva Brigade, Bengaluru Rural, Dharmothana Trust, Dakshina Kannada.

Social service: N.S. Hegde (Kundaragi), Prema Kodandarama Shresti, Manegar Meeran Saheb, Mohini Siddegowda.

Medical: Ashok Sannad, B.S. Srinath, A. Nagarathna.

Agriculture: Surat Singh Kanoor Singh Rajput, S.V. Sumangalamma Veerabhadra, Sidramappa Basanth Rao Patil.

Environment: Amara Narayana, N.D. Patil.

Science/Technology: Udupi Srinivas, Chindi Vasudevappa.

Cooperation: C.N. Manche Gowda.

Bayalata: Kempavva Harijana, Chennabasappa Bendigeri.

Yakshagana: Bangar Achari, M.K. Ramesh Acharya.

Theatre: Anasuyamma, H.K. Shadaksharappa.

Cinema: B.S. Basavaraj, A.T. Raghu.

Art: M.J. Vached Matta.

Folklore: Gururaja Hosakote, Hampannahalli Thimmegowda.

Sculpture: N.S. Janardhana Murthy.

Dance: Jyothi Pattabiram

Folklore/Doll: Keshappa Shillekyathara.