C'Wealth winners, Infosys’s Gopalakrishnan, Karanth bag awards

Commonwealth Games medal winners, the chief executive officer of Infosys Technologies S Gopalakrishnan, noted conservation zoologist and tiger expert Ullas Karanth bagged this year’s Karnataka Rajyotsava awards that were announced on Saturday.

It’s the top state honour and the awards are given away annually for significant contributions in various fields.

The Kannada and culture minister Govind M Karjol announced the list of Rajyotsava awardees, for which the lobbying reaches heights during this time of the year, has touched 162 this time. The awards would be presented on state formation day on November 1 by chief minister BS Yeddyurappa at Ravindra Kalakshetra. The state government had not given out the awards in 2009 due to the floods that affected the state.

The chairman of CII Karnataka, Aroon Raman, was among the winners which included CWG medal winners Ashwini Ponnappa, Ashwini Akkunji and Vikas Gowda.

The minister made a special mention of another winner Dr Shivahalli who, he said, not only got Bill and Melinda Gates to visit Karnataka’s Bijapur district but was also responsible for getting a Rs300 crore aid from their Foundation to fight HIV/Aids.

Karjol said more than 3,500 applications came in. “The list of winners includes luminaries from 25 different fields and the committee appointed by the state government has identified achievers apart from those who had applied for the award. About 60% of the awards are for those who have not applied for it,” he said.