BENGALURU: ISRO Chairman S Somanath and golfer Aditi Ashok are among the 68 personalities who will be honoured with Kannada Rajyotsava Awards on Wednesday.
To mark the 50 years of renaming the state as Karnataka, the government will present awards to 10 institutions for their contribution to the growth of Kannada. ‘Karnataka Sambhrama -- 50’, a year-long event, will be inaugurated on the occasion. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will present the awards.
Disclosing this to reporters here on Tuesday, Kannada and Culture Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi said each award-winner will be given Rs 5 lakh and a 25-gram gold medal. Of the 68 personalities selected for the awards, 13 are women, 54 men and one transgender. Interestingly, two of them are centenarians. “We have selected people from all districts of the state for this year’s awards,” he added.
Sreedhara Panicker Somanath (S Somanath), who played an important role in the successful launch of Chandrayaan - 3, has been chosen from Bengaluru district under the science and technology category. Arjuna awardee Aditi Ashok from Bengaluru is one of the young recipients. The golfer has been selected for the award under the sports category.
Actors Dingri Nagaraj and Bank Janardhan, and Leelavathi Baipadithaya, Yakshagana artiste from Dakshina Kannada, are among the award winners.