BENGALURU: With just a few days left for Kannada Rajyotsava on November 1, the state government has already finalised the names of Kannada Rajyotsava awardees for this year. As many as 63 individuals and organisations will be given the awards this year.
In 2016, after an individual approached the High Court, questioning the criteria of selection for recipients of the award, the High Court observed that the government has not framed any guidelines or committee to select candidates.
As per the High Court direction, the state government constituted a panel, which in turn recommended to keep the number of awardees same as that of the year of Rajyotsava celebration.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Kannada and Culture Minister Jayamala said, as the state is celebrating the 63rd Kannada Rajyotsava this year, the number of awardees will be restricted to 63.
“We have already finalised all the awardees, including organisations. We have restricted the age to minimum 60 years, except for sportspersons. As we restricted the age of awardees to 60 years minimum, we received recommendations from many people who just turned 60 years. We want to give priority to people who are 70 and 80, as they are seniors too,’’ she said.
Jayamala also said, while selecting the awardees, they made sure to give the awards region-wise too. “We will not announce the names of the awardees now as we are under pressure from various sections to include names of their candidates. We wanted to retain the sanctity of the award.
Rajyotsava award is one of the highest civilian honour in Karnataka conferred on the occasion of November 1 celebrated as Kannada Rajyotsava. Each award carries a 20-gram gold medal, `1,00,000 cash and a citation. The state government started giving the award in 1966 to citizens of Karnataka in recognition of their distinguished contribution in various fields including arts, literature, science, education, science, sports, medicine and even organisation.
Need similar guidelines for KG award
Opposition party leader in BBMP Council Padmanabha Reddy said similar guidelines were needed for Kempegowda awards.
“There was a time when only few were given awards, but over a period of time, it increased. This year, it was worse, as it crossed 500 awardees, breaking all the previous records. There is a need to frame guidelines, constitute a committee, which alone should take decision of selecting awardees,’’ he said.