by Richard Lasrado

Bangalore: If the late chief minister D Devaraj Urs stood and fought for the depressed sections of the society and had espoused social justice and equality, it is in the fitness of things that an award instituted in his name should go to a senior journalist of Dakshina Kannada origin, Dinesh Amin Mattu, who too is a man of principles.

A committee headed by Gyan Pith awardee Dr Chandrashekhara Kambara, which had been appointed by the state government, has selected Mattu for the award on the occasion of th 97th birth anniversary of the late Urs. The award carries a cash purse of Rs 1 lakh, a citation and a memento.

Mattu, assistant editor of Prajavani Kannada daily, has stood for values and ethics in journalism. He minces no words and is known for no-nonsense approach to issues and for unbiased news analyses. He may have faced pressures of various kinds in his career. But he has withstood them all. He has held his head high and resisted the risks of falling prey to commercialism and compromising on principles. On this count, he indeed stands tall among the present crop of journalists.

Born in Mumbai in a family hailing from a tiny hamlet of Mattu near Mulki in Dakshina Kannada, Dinesh studied up to Std IV in a Kannada-medium school in Mumbai. He continued his education at high school and degree levels in Kinnigoli, Hejamadi and Suratkal. Thereafter, he studied Law at the SDM Law College in Mangalore.

If Dinesh displays his unflinching attachment to the common man, it is perhaps explained by the fact that he lived in Mattu right from the age of nine up to thirty. In 1983, he began his journalistic career with 'Mungaru' Kannada daily, started and edited by Vaddarse Raghuram Shetty with an aim to be a voice for the voiceless. Dinesh served as sub-editor, reporter and news editor for six years with 'Mungaru'.

In 1989, he joined 'Prajavani'. Serving in different positions like sub-editor, reporter, district correspondent and the like in different places like Bangalore, Dharwar and Tumkur, he went on to be senior reporter, chief reporter and special reporter in Delhi, to serve there for ten years from 1999 to 2009. Since 2009, he has been the assistant editor in Bangalore.

While at Dharwar and Tumkur, the reports he filed on local issues, panchayat administration, literary events and election surveys and analysis drew special attention and appreciation. From Delhi, he reported on the proceedings of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Cauvery and Krishna Water Tribunals, and regularly wrote on the burning issues faced by the state, and contributed special features and write-ups to Prajavani's supplements and political analyses.

From 2001 to 2009, Dinesh ran a regular column 'Dehali Nota' which gave an incisive political report on national and states' politics. His eyewitness accounts of the communal disturbances in Gujarat in 2002 stirred the conscience of readers to a great extent.

At the time of Lok Sabha elections in 2004 and 2009, he extensively toured the northern states, among them Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Punjab, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and West Bengal in particular, and filed reports on poll developments in the parliamentary and assembly segments. In 2009, Dinesh introduced his now-popular column of political analysis, 'Anaavarana'. 

As part of his career, he has toured abroad as well. In December 2005, he was part of the media team that accompanied prime minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to Malaysia to attend the the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit meet.

Similarly, he accompanied PM Singh during his visits to the State of Qatar and the Sultanate of Oman in December 2006. Besides, he also accompanied the PM to the meet of G-20 countries to Seoul in South Korea in 2010.

His experience in journalism was recognized with his nomination as a member of media consultative committee, appointed by the then-speaker of the Lok Sabha, Somnath Chatterji.

He has authored a few books, KaNNedurina TaLamaLa (1999 - on Tumkur district), Dehali NoTa 2008 (published by the Kannada Books Authority), Dehali NoTa 2008 (collection of column writings) and Narayana Guru (booklet of the social reformer's movement).

Dinesh has several awards up his sleeve - Sandesha media award 2010, Bodhivardhana journalism award 2010, Nidumamidi Sadbhavana award 2010, Khadri Shamanna journalism award 2011, State Media Academy award 2011, 'Amma' special award 2011 and G R Pandeshwar Best Journalist award 2012, not forgetting the latest one, Devaraj Urs award.

He is truly a journalist the district and the state should be proud of.

Straight talk by Dinesh Amin Mattu: