Padma awards for Kannadigas

Four eminent personalities from the state have been selected for the Padma awards on the eve of Republic Day. They are Dr Devi Shetty, Ramachandra Hegde Chittani, K Ullas Karanth and R Nagarathnamma.
The economic development and conservation of environment should go hand in hand in India, said Dr K Ullas Karanth, founder-trustee and director of Centre for Wildlife Studies and one of the recipients of this year’s Padma Shri awards, which were announced on Wednesday.
“Environmental conservation and economy are seen as mutually exclusive and quite often development comes at the cost of nature. Through the efforts of scientific institutions, we need to integrate the two together,” he said.
Karanth, who is one of the foremost wildlife biologists of India, said he was “humbled” that he was selected for the Padma Shri award. “I’m very happy, to say the least. I am hoping this recognition puts a focus on the field of wildlife conservation. Of course, I had the help of all my co-workers and my colleagues in everything I have done,” he says.
As for the future, Karanth believes that many of the answers lie in the past. “Indian government should properly enforce the protected area system. In the 70s, a lot of strong laws were passed protecting the lands, but they have all been diluted now. The government should strengthen them again,” he said.
Monitoring of tigers
Tiger conservation, however, remains his priority.
“Protecting the tigers also involves the conservation of vast stretches of land, protecting the ecosystem and more. The success of the Project Tiger has been uneven in our country,” he said.
“The progress we have made is commendable but given the manpower, the genius and the talent that exists in India, we should be doing so much more,” Karanth added. When it comes to the work at the Centre for Wildlife Studies, Karanth said one of the most important projects is setting up a robust scientific tiger-monitoring system in place.
Talking about the tiger conservation effort in Karnataka, Karanth warned against complacency.
“At present, Karnataka’s tiger conservation effort is better than that in most states in the country but now is not the time to get complacent. It is important not to scale back in the interest of activities like road-widening or mining. We can’t afford to rest on our laurels,” said Karanth.
Shetty keen on two projects
Noted cardiac surgeon Dr Devi Shetty, who has been selected for Padma Bhushan, said the recognition would strengthen his resolve to implement two agendas.
Elaborating his plans, he said, “The first agenda I have is health insurance for all the poor people of our country. We have 750 million Indians spending Rs150 per month just to speak on the mobile phone. All we need is an additional Rs10 out of this Rs150 of their mobile phone bill to ensure the best health insurance programme one can think of. This can be implemented just by policy changes by the government and I am hopeful that the government will definitely be willing to bring about regulatory changes to make it happen.”
About his other agenda, he said, every year his team wants 2,000 children from rural India to join medical colleges. They started this exercise at a small scale in West Bengal six years ago under a programme called Udayar Pathey, wherein 13-year-old children from rural West Bengal, who were passionate about becoming doctors, committed to the team that they would become doctors if the team sponsors their education.
Shetty said the students were mentored and they succeeded in joining medical college by merit. He said the students are supported by organising a student loan and, if required, his team helps them with other requirements as well.
He said the award would definitely help him achieve the target.
Yakshagana
Veteran Yakshagana exponent, Ramachandra Hegde Chittani, is among those whom the Indian government has selected for Padma Shri award.
“It is the first time that Yakshagana, as a folk performing art, has received a Padma award. I feel the Yakshagana has got a navilu gari (feather in the cap). I am happy to be selected for the award but more importantly, I am happy that a Yakshagana artiste got it,” Chittani told DNA from his home in Honnavar.
Theatre artiste R Nagarathnamma, too, has made it to the list of Padma Shri awardees from Karnataka.