Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (SP)
Udupi, Aug 17: Researcher and litterateur, Dr Chidananda Murthy, has been chosen for the first ever Dr Padoor Gururaj Bhat Award. President of Dr Padoor Gururaj Bhat Memorial Trust, Prof P Sripati Tantry said that Murthy was selected for the award, taking into account his contributions towards enriching the fields of religious and cultural history of the state.
Giving this information at a press conference held on Monday August 16, Tantry revealed that the award, comprising cash component of Rs 50,000, will be presented to Dr Murthy by the state Lokayukta, Justice N Santosh Hegde, at a function to be held in Yavanika auditorium near K R Circle, Bangalore at 4 pm on September 18. The award function will be chaired by state home minister, Dr V S Acharya, he added.
A committee having retired professor of Mangalore University, Dr B Surendra Rao, director of National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Dr M Govind Rao, and expert linguist, Dr U P Upadhyaya, chose Dr Chidananda Murthy for the award.
At the award function, the second reprint of ‘Tulunadu’, work authored by Dr Padoor Gururaj Bhat, and a collection of 80 English articles, will also be released. The Trust plans to release two volumes of Kannada articles penned by Dr Bhat, a mega volume, ‘Studies in Tuluva History and Culture’ with 1,000 photographs and 600 pages of literature, in future. The study books will be put together to form a library, he informed.
Prof Tantry also said that a foundation is planned to be set up by bringing together the past students and fans of Dr Bhat to execute social service plans. He invited the old students of Dr Bhat to contact the trust.
Vishwanath Padoor, P Parashuram Bhat, and P Venkatesh Bhat were present at the press conference.