Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network- Mangalore

Mangalore, Sep 2: “The first National Poet Govinda Pai Memorial Award- 2013 will be awarded to well known Darwad based professor, Dr Srinivas H Rittige,” said Professor H Krishna Bhat, director of Rashtrakavi Govinda Pai Adhyayana Kendra, Udupi.

He was addressing the mediapersons, during the press meet held at Ocean Pearl here on Monday September 2.

“Although Govinda Pai was the first national poet, he is not recognized. The government and the authorities did not do much to get this poet to limelight. Almost all the works of Govinda Pai have been misplaced, we have strived hard to collect all of them inorder to create a new epic of his works,” he said.

“Muralidhar Upadhyaya is the author of the book. T V Mohandas Pai has helped a lot for this award function. He has donated nearly Rs 11 lakh for this cause. The award which will be given every year has been named after his mother Vimala V Pai. The philosophers who will be awarded will be given cash prize of Rs 1 lakh,” he informed.

The award program has been organized by of Rashtrakavi Govinda Pai Adhyayana Kendra, Udupi, Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College, Udupi and Academy of General Education, Manipal. The function will be held on Friday September 6 at New Ravindra Mantapa, MGM College, Udupi.