Karnataka Rajyotsav Awards: Ramachandra Guha, KJ Yesudas among 62 recipients; Siddaramaiah to fete awardees today

The Karnataka government has chosen 62 people for the annual Rajyotsava Award, including historian Ramachandra Guha, playback singer KJ Yesudas, writer Vaidehi and hockey player VR Raghunath. [caption id=“attachment_3367366” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah. PTI[/caption] Umashree, the Minister for Kannada and Culture, announced the list of awardees on Monday, The New Indian Express reported. The state government said that the choice of awardees was based on “social justice” and “equal district representation”. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will give away the awards at a function in Bengaluru on 1 November, the occasion of Kannada Rajyotsava. The award carries a prize of Rs 1 lakh, a 20-gram gold medal and a citation. Deccan Chronicle cited more sources in the Department of Kannada and Culture as saying that the screening committee selected 124 eminent personalities but the high-level committee headed by the chief minister reduced the number to 62. Some names made it to the list of award winners for unique reasons. But Guha’s selection is the most surprising by far. A strong critic of both the Congress and BJP, Guha had slammed the Karnataka state government in the past, and even received a legal notice for stating that Right-wing activists were responsible for the murder of activist Gauri Lankesh. According to Deccan Chronicle, actress Kanchana was chosen because she was living in abject poverty in a temple after losing her property. Vaidehi is also one of the people selected for the award. The Hindu reported that she is a noted Kannada writer and has received prestigious literary honours in the past, including the Sahitya Akademi award. Yesudas is a renowned Carnatic musician and playback singer. He is a also a Padma Award recipient. Raghunath told The Times of India that his selection will motivate him to further contribute towards the development of hockey.