100 to get Kempegowda Award

BENGALURU: This year, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has selected 100 people for the prestigious Kempegowda Award, the annual awards given by the civic body. The awards will be conferred by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on September 4. Last year, the number of awardees crossed the 500-mark inviting criticism.

Some of the distinguished citizens who will get the award this year include writer Professor Chandrashekar Patil, actor Mukyamantri Chandru, educationalist Gururaj Karajagi, veena exponent Suma Sudhindra, and IPS officers D Roopa and Anucheth among aothers. The BBMP received flak in 2018 for giving the award to more than 500 people. Though the initial list had 320 names, the figure crossed 500 in a week. Names were even added on the day of the ceremony. The ceremony was so chaotic that there were reports of several awardees not getting their memento. In 2017, 220 people were given the award.
Commenting on the number of awardees this year, a BBMP official said, “We will not know till the day the award is given. The number might shoot up. It is sad that political leaders have brought down the value of this prestigious award.”

The official said norms similar to that of the Rajyotsava Award should be followed for these awards too. “The number of people selected for the Rajyotsava Award in a particular year is equal to the number of years since the state’s formation. Why can’t we have a similar arrangement for the Kempegowda Award?” the official questioned.

Interestingly, this year, a large number of women have been selected for the Kempegowda Award.
The Shivakumara Swamiji Award will be given to Ramanashri Academy for Blind, Bosco Mane, Sumangali Sevashrama, The Muslim Orphange and Manonandana on the same occasion.