By Violet Pereira, Team Mangalorean

Mangalore: The Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy conferred the  honorary awards and the best author awards to six eminent personalities in the town hall here on June 16.

Prior to the award ceremony, a cultural programme, "Titiri Majal", by Nesara artistes of Guttigar. The programme was inaugurated by folklorist Bannanje Babu Amin along with other dignitaries.  President of Tulu Sahitya Academy Umanath Kotian welcomed the gathering.

Lok Sabha member Nalin Kumar Kateel speaking on the occasion said that many people apply for awards by listing their achievements and try to get awards but some real achievers did not get recognized.  Organizations invite applications from achievers asking for their achievements. Most of the awards are based on influence and money but the Tulu Sahitya Academy has recognized the real achievers and awarded them, he said.

People say that the Tulu Sahitya Academy was founded during Veerappa Moily's tenure, but it was Yeddyurappa's government which sanctioned Rs 44 lakh for the development of Tulu, Konkani and Kannada academies.  He further said, "Dakshina Kannada district is known as the district of intellectuals, because it is the hub of education, language, culture and tradition. We have to retain the culture and tradition of Tulu because it is a rich language. When Yakshagana and Tulu stage plays were about to disappear, Tulu Sahitya Academy strived hard to retain it by conferring the awards to the achievers in Tulu literature, cinema and stage-play."  He congratulated the whole academy team for their hard work and efforts in retaining the Tulu language and culture and honouring the real achievers who deserve the honour.

The honourary awards were conferred by Nalin Kumar Kateel on Bola Chittaranjandas Shetty for his contribution towards Tulu literary field, Sitaram Shetty for his contribution in Tulu stageplay and T A Srinivas for his contribution in Tulu cinema. The honour comprised a shawl, garland, fruits, memento, citation and cash Rs 10,000.

The best book being the Tulu novel 'Satyadrishti' written by Puttige Padmanabha Rai, Tulu story  'Onji Kundu nalpa katelu'  written by Dr Ashok Alva, and stageplay  'Bhutala Pandye',  written by Ratnakar Rao Kavoor, the authors were honoured by Krishna J Palemar with  shawl, garland, fruits, memento, citation and cash Rs 5,000.

Speaking on the occasion, Palemar said, "Tulunadu people have a unique taste, be it in their food habit or stageplay and Yakshagana.  Today Yakshagana is losing its importance because there is lack of interest in watching it.  The BJP government is striving hard to retain the culture and tradition of Tulunadu by financially supporting it. The government has also provided 51 cents of land where the new Tulu Bhavana is coming up at a cost of Rs 4.8 crore.  Already deputy speaker Yogish Bhat has sanctioned Rs 10 lakhs from the MLA fund and I will also sanction Rs 10 lakh from my fund". He asked Nalin Kumar Kateel and Shailaja K T Bhat too to sanction some amount towards the building because it was a government project and all the government officials should contribute towards this building.

Further he said, "Tulunadu people are peace-lovers and there is a family bond among them. We have to carry this bond further. In this English-speaking era, local languages do not get much importance.  It is every Tuluva's duty to retain the language and culture of Tulunadu."  He urged the people to support Tulu Sahitya Academy and its work.

Aithappa Naik from Puttur was felicitated for teaching Tulu language by Umanath Kotian with a shawl, memento, fruits and citation.

Mayor Gulzar Banu, Captain Ganesh Karnik, ZP president  Shailaja K T Bhat, deputy mayor Amitakala and Tulu film director Ram Shetty were also present.  Navaneet Shetty and Manjula compered the programme.