BANGALORE: The Government is attempting to restore the sanctity of the annual Rajyotsava Award. It has directed officials to evolve a comprehensive method to select individuals for the awards, based partly on the existing guidelines.

The aim is to limit the number of awards and stop selection on the basis of applications and recommendations.

Although the Government is yet to constitute a committee to recommend names for the award, the Department of Kannada and Culture has been receiving applications since the middle of August. The number of applications and recommendations is expected to go up to 3,000 by the second week of October.

New record

In 2005, the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government created a record by presenting Rajyotsava awards to 175 people after the then Deputy Chief Minister, M.P. Prakash, had said that the number of awards would be limited to 75. This topped the 172 people honoured by the S. Bangarappa government in 1992.

In 2004, the S.M. Krishna government asserted that the number of awards would not exceed 50. But the selection process ran into rough weather for various reasons, including political interference. The selection committee was forced to shift from the Kannada Bhavan to a secret location for its final meeting. Despite pulls and pressures, the Government managed to keep the number of awards to 55.

This year the Government is likely to involve the seven cultural academies, the Kannada Development Authority and the assistant directors in the Department of Kannada and Culture in the 27 districts in obtaining information about deserving candidates in various fields.

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