Karnataka has decided to hold year-long celebrations from November 1 to mark the golden anniversary of its renaming from the erstwhile State of Mysore.
Announcing this at a press conference in Bengaluru on Wednesday, Kannada and Culture Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi said the nature of the year-long programmes would be finalised after holding divisional-level consultative meetings with Kannada writers and activists throughout the State. After the completion of the consultative process, a high-level meeting would be held with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to give a final shape to the year-long programmes, he said.
The State of Mysore was renamed Karnataka with effect from November 1, 1973. It was on July 30, 1973, that the Lok Sabha adopted a Bill which provided for renaming of Mysore State as Karnataka.
Meeting with writers
Mr. Tangadagi, who held a meeting with Kannada writers and activists from the Bengaluru division on Wednesday, said a bronze statue of Nadadevi Bhuvaneshwari (Goddess of the land) would be installed on the premises of Ravindra Kalakshetra in Bengaluru at a cost of ₹3 crore.
Pointing out that the State got its present name in 1973 when D. Devaraj Urs, known as the champion of the backward classes, was the Chief Minister, Mr. Tangadagi maintained that it was a coincidence that its golden jubilee was being held when Mr. Siddaramaiah, who too is following the ideology of Urs, is the Chief Minister.
