On the eve of the 66th Kannada Rajyotsava, the State Government on Sunday announced the Rajyotsava award for 66 eminent personalities.
They include international tennis player Rohan Bopanna, theatre and film artist Prakash Belawadi, Kannada film actor Devaraj, stand-up comedian Gangavati Pranesh, water expert Capt. Raja Rao, Prof. P.V. Krishna Bhat, and scholar Krishna Kolhar Kulkarni. Kargil war hero Captain Naveen Nagappa, specially abled athlete K. Gopinath, Ratnamma Shivappa Babalada, a pourakarmika from Yadgir, and journalist U.B. Rajalakshmi are also among those recognised this year.
Ten social service organisations, including Adamya Chetana, an NGO run by BJP leader Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, have been selected for the Amruth Mahotsava award being given away on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Indian independence.
The award list was released by Kannada and Culture Minister V. Sunil Kumar, who in a note said the awardees were selected through nomination by the general public on the Seva Sindhu portal and also through efforts to identify unsung heroes. He said that the declaration of the awards was delayed by the untimely death of Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar.
He said the Amruth Mahotsava State award for service organisations is restricted to only this year and the organisations were chosen after identifying social services rendered by them that can inspire others. The organisations selected are Karnataka Hemophilia Society, Davangere; Adamya Chetana, Bengaluru; All India Jain Youth Federation, Hubballi; Step One, Bengaluru; Utsav Rock Garden, Haveri; Banashankari Mahila Samaja, Bengaluru; Anugraha Eye Hospital, Vijayapura; Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Mangaluru; Sri Veereshwara Punyashrama School for Blind Children, Gadag; and Sri Kottala Basaveshwara Bharatheeya Shikshana Samithi, Kalaburagi.
In the individual awards, six persons each have been chosen in literature and medical science, five each in social service and theatre, seven in folk, two each in technology, environment, journalism, music, and sculpture, four each in sports and non-resident Kannadiga category, three each in education, agriculture and others, two in yoga, and one person each in judicial, administration, services, cinema, Yakshagana, Hyderabad-Karnataka Ekikaran a struggle, industry, a nd pourakarmika category.
