Eminent writer T. Padmanabhan has been chosen for the Kerala Jyothi award instituted by the Kerala government on Wednesday. He was selected for the highest civilian honour by the government considering his contributions in the field of Malayalam literature. The State also announced other ‘Kerala Puraskarngals’, the highest award given by the government to distinguished personalities who have made outstanding contributions in various spheres of social life.
Justice (Retired) M. Fathima Beevi and Nataraja Krishnamurthy (Soorya Krishnamurthy) have been selected for the ‘Kerala Prabha’ award considering contributions in the field of social service and civil service and in the field of arts respectively. Others who won the ‘Kerala Sree’ award include Punalur Somarajan (social service sector), V.P. Gangadharan (health sector), Ravi DC (industry and commerce sector), K.M. Chandrasekhar (civil service sector), Pandit Ramesh Narayan (art, music).
It has been decided to give the ‘Kerala Jyothi’ award to one person a year, the second highest State award ‘Kerala Prabha’ to two persons a year, and the third highest State award ‘Kerala Shree’ to five persons a year considering their contributions in various fields. The jury was headed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan, K. Jayakumar, and George Onakkoor.