The rich history, culture and heritage of Karnataka extending to thousands of years was recalled at the Kannada Rajyotsava celebrations in Mandya on Wednesday.
The main function was held at the Police Parade Grounds in the town and the Mandya district in charge Minister N. Cheluvarayaswamy also highlighted the social welfare programmes launched by the State government in Mandya district.
He recalled the contributions of Alur Venkataraya, B.M. Srikantaiah, A.N. Krishna Rao, N.S. Hardikar, Hardikar Manjappa, Deputy Channabasappa, Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar, Kengal Hanumantaiah, Patil Puttappa, poet laureate Kuvempu, and others. ‘’This is an occasion to recall their contributions which led to the unification of all Kannada-speaking regions and formation of one State which was subsequently renamed as Karnataka on November 1, 1973,” said Mr. Cheluvarayaswamy.
Karnataka has a history that extends to many centuries and all dynasties including the Gangas, Kadambas, Rashtrakutas, Chalukyas, Hoysalas, Vijayanagar rulers, and Wadiyars of Mysuru have contributed to enrichment of the culture and arts of the State, he added.
He also recalled that the State had given birth to poets and litterateurs since historical times and cited the examples of Pampa, Ranna, Ponna, Janna, Kumaravyasa, and Lakshmisha while in modern times there were examples of poets like Govinda Pai, Kuvempu, G.S. Shivarudrappa, Masti Venkatesh Iyengar, Da. Ra. Bendre, Shivaram Karanth, Girish Karnad, U.R. Ananthamurthy, Chandrashekar Kambar etc.
The Minister said that the State government will hold many programmes to mark and celebrate the golden jubilee of renaming of the State as Karnataka and Chief Minister will flag off a ratha at Hampi.
Social welfare projects
Dwelling on the public welfare schemes of the government he said that the State was committed to the empowerment of the socially and economically weaker section and hence the guarantee schemes had been launched.
Talking about Shakti scheme providing free service to women, Mr. Cheluvarayaswamy said that in Mandya district alone, 1.94 crore women had availed the benefits till the end of September and the government had reimbursed the KSRTC Rs.47.30 crore.
Concerning Anna Bhagya scheme, the minister said 5 kg of rice out of 10 kg that was promised, was being distributed and there were families of 4.77 lakh card holders who were making use of it and ₹68.19 crore had been released by way of cash instead of the remaining 5 kg of rice.
Mr. Cheluvarayaswamy said 4.33 lakh women had enrolled under Gruha Lakshmi scheme under which each of them received ₹2000, and the State had remitted ₹81.49 crore for the district in this connect so far.
On free power, the State government has paid the CESC ₹16.49 crore by way of power subsidy under Gruha Jyothi scheme. A proposal has also been made to establish eight raitha samparka kendras in the district at a cost of ₹16 crore, the Minister added.
On the provision of drinking water schemes, Mr. Cheluvarayaswamy said that two mega multi-village drinking water projects were under implementation and would benefit lakhs of people. MLA P. Ravikumar, Deputy Commissioner Dr. Kumar, Superintendent of Police N. Yatish and senior district officials were present.
