ISRO Chairman S. Somanath, golfer Aditi Ashok, and retired Supreme Court judge V. Gopala Gowda are among the 68 people and 10 organisations selected for the Rajyotsava Award - 2023 by the Karnataka government for their contributions in different fields.
The committee headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah selected the winners. The award will be presented on November 1 at the Ravindra Kalakshetra by Mr. Siddaramaiah. This year, the State is celebrating the golden jubilee of renaming the Mysore State as Karnataka.
Seventy-five-year-old Huchchamma Basappa Chowdri, a resident of Kunikeri village of Koppal district, has been selected for the award. She donated two acres of land, worth more than ₹1 crore, for the development of a government school in her village. Ms. Chowdri is involved in feeding schoolchildren.
Hasanabba, popularly known as Charmadi Hasanabba, who has saved accident victims in the Charmadi Ghat by shifting them to hospitals at the right time, is also a recipient of the award in the social service category. He has saved close to 1,000 accident victims in the last two decades. Mr. Hasanabba runs a small restaurant in the Charmadi Ghat in Belathangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada.
Lieutenant General Codanda Poovaiah Cariappa, who served in the Indian Army in various capacities and actors ‘Dingri’ Nagaraj and B. Janardhana, popularly known as Bank Janardhana have been selected for the award in the cinema category.
The award winners include 13 women, 13 members belonging to minority communities, and a third-gender person. Three centenarians — K. Roopa Naik (social service) from Davangere; Husenabi Buden Sab Siddi (folk art) from Uttara Kannada, and freedom fighter Puttaswamy Gowda (Ramanagara) have also bagged the award.
G.V. Balaram, who contested the last Assembly election on the BJP ticket but lost, has been given the award for establishing the solar park in Pavagadaga, in the category of administration.
Speaking to presspersons, Kannada and Culture Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi said the department had received more than 2,000 applications seeking the award. The award carries a purse of ₹5 lakh, 25 gm of gold, and a plaque.
The award winners in different fields are as follows:
Music/Dance: Nayana S. More (Bengaluru), Neela M. Kodli (Dharwad), Shabbir Ahmed (Bengaluru), Balesh Bhajantri (Belagavi).
Film/Cinema: ‘Dingri’ Nagaraj and B. Janardhana (both Bengaluru)
Theatre: A.G. Chidambara Rao Jambe (Shivamogga), P. Gangadhara Swami (Mysuru), H.B. Sarojamma (Dharwad), Thaiyabkhan M. Inamdar (Bagalkot), Vishwanath Vamshakrutha Mata (Bagalkot), and P. Thippeswamy (Chitradurga).
Sculptures/Art/Handicraft: T. Shivashankar (Davangere), Kalappa Vishwakarma (Raichur), Martha Jakimovich (Bengaluru), and P. Gowraiah (Mysuru).
Yakshagana: Agrodu Mohandas Pai (Udupi), K. Leelavathi Baipadithaya (Dakshina Kannada), Keshappa Shillikyathara (Koppal), and Dalawai Siddappa (Vijayanagara).
Folk Art: Husenabi Buden Sab Siddi (Uttara Kannada), Shivangi Shanmari (Davangere), Mahadev (Mysuru), Narasappa (Bidar), Shankuntala Devala Naik (Kalaburagi), H.K. Karamanchappa (Ballari), Shambu Baligara (Gadag), Vibhuti Gundappa (Koppal), and Chowdamma (Chikkamagaluru).
Social Service: Huchchamma Chowdri (Koppal), Charmadi Hasanabba (Dakshina Kannada), Roopa Naik (Davangere), Nijagunanda Mahaswami (Belagavi), and Nagaraju G. (Bengaluru).
Administration: G.V. Balaram (Tumakuru).
Medical: C. Ramachandra (Bengaluru) and Prashanta Shetty (Dakshina Kannada).
Literature: C. Naganna (Chamarajanagar), Subbu Holeyar (Hassan), Satish Kulkarni (Haveri); Lakshmipathi Kolara (Kolar); Parappa Gurupadappa Siddapura (Vijayapura), and K. Sharifa (Bengaluru).
Education: Ramanna Havele (Raichur); K. Chandrashekar (Kolar), and K.T. Chandru (Mandya).
Sports: Divya T.S. (Kolar); Aditi Ashok (Bengaluru), and Ashok Gagigeppa Yenagi (Dharwad).
Judiciary: V. Gopala Gowda
Agriculture/Environment: Somanatha Reddy Poorva (Kalaburagi); Dhyavanagouda T. Patil (Dharwad), and Shivareddy Hanuma Reddy Vasana (Bagalkot).
Miscellaneous: A.M. Madari (Vijayapura); Haji Abdulla, Parkala (Udupi), ‘Mimikri’ Dayananda (Mysuru), Kabbinale Vasanth Bharadwaj (Mysuru), and Lieutenant General Codanda Poovaiah Cariappa (Kodagu).
Media: Dinesh Amin Mattu (Dakshina Kannada), Javarappa (newspaper distributor from Mysuru), Maya Sharma (Bengaluru), and Rafi Bhandari (Vijayapura).
Science/Technology: S. Somanath (Bengaluru) and Gopalan Jagadish (Chamarajangar).
NRI Kannadigas: Seetharam Iyengar, Deepak Shetty, and Shashikiran Shetty.
Freedom fighter: Puttaswamy Gowda (Ramangara).
Ten organisations have also been chosen for the award. They are Karnataka Sangha (Shivamogga), B.N. Shivarama Pustaka Prakashana (Mysuru), Mythic Society (Bengaluru), Karnataka Sahitya Sangha (Yadgiri), Moulana Azad Shikshana and Samaja Kalyana Sanskrithika Sangha (Davangere), Muslim Education Institutions Federation (Dakshina Kannada), Sneharanga Havyasi Kala Samsthe (Bagalkot), Chinnara Bimba (Mumbai), Maruthi Janaseva Sangha (Dakshina Kannada), and Vidyadana Samithi (Gadag).
