Bengaluru:
When Karnataka celebrates its 58th Kannada Rajyotsava day on Friday, you can
expect as many as 58 eminent personalities from across 20 disciplines to bag
the second highest civilian award – the Rajyotsava Award.
The
selection committee headed by Jnanpith awardee Dr U.R. Ananthamurthy, on
Sunday, sat through a marathon meeting in the city, studying the 200 names that
remained on the list, after scrutinizing some 3,500 applications. With Chief
Minister Siddaramaiah reportedly insisting that only 58 names should be there
in the final list, the panel was busy trying to balance the two criteria —merit
and social justice— as directed by the CM.
According to
sources, Siddaramaiah has ruled out the possibility of yielding to any lobby.
Instead, the CM is said to have directed the panel to strictly pick those
nominees, who are perceived to be achievers by the common man and not those who
have recommendation from heavyweights.
With the
final list likely to be announced in a day or two, sources say, it would come
as no surprise if the majority of those in the list belong to the Ahinda
(backward classes and minorities) category.
In 2012, the
Jagadish Shettar government had chosen 57 individuals along with seven
organizations for the award. In 2011, then chief minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda
had defended his decision of limiting the number of awards to 50, stating `it
will give the award its due sanctity’.
A jumbo list
of 159 awardees made it to the 2010 awards when B.S. Yeddyurappa was chief
minister. As rains and floods caused havoc in North Karnataka in 2009, there
was no Rajyotsava celebration. In 2008, the Yeddyurappa government honoured 92
personalities with the award and also enhanced the cash prize from
Rs 10,000 to Rs one lakh.
By Prathima Nandakumar /DC
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