Mangaluru: The Kasaragod District Kannada Journalists' Welfare Association has announced the recipients of its annual Endowment Fund Awards. This year, 21 journalists have been selected for recognition, including Vartha Bharathi Mangaluru Bureau's senior reporter Satyavati, and Kodagu special correspondent Kandakere Ismail Kodagu.

The award ceremony will take place on May 3 at the Seethangoli Alliance Hall in Kasaragod district. Each endowment award comprises a cash prize, an award certificate, and a memento.

The names of the awardees according to a press release issued by the association are as follows,

Satyavati will be honoured with the Lawyer Muhammad Ibrahim Pare Memorial Award, while Kandakere Ismail Kodagu will receive the Mogarodi Gopalakrishna Melanta Endowment Award. Srinivasa Jokatte from Mumbai, who will receive the Brahmakya Edneer Sri Keshavananda Bharathi Swamiji Memorial Award, and Ganesh Kasaragodu, who will be awarded the Journalist Ravi Belagere Memorial Endowment Award.

Srinivasa Nayak Indaje will be awarded with the Avva Trust Hubballi Endowment, Mallikarjuna Reddy Gondi of Belagavi with Retired senior IAS officer Dr. C. Somashekara Endowment, N. Ravikumar with Hawva Hasan Foundation Kudkoli Endowment, Nagaraja Y. Koppala with Non-resident businessman and art patron Joseph Mathias Dubai Endowment, Iswara Alevoor from Mumbai with KVR Tagore Memorial Award, and Muhammad Ansar Inoli with Freedom Fighter and Former Minister Bhimanna Khandre Endowment.

Others receiving awards include C.J. Puneeth of Mysuru (Economist Sudhir Kumar Shetty Enmakaje Endowment), Venu Vinod of Mangaluru (Somanna Bevinamarad Endowment), Maulana Saab Bidar (Kuluru Kanyana Sadashiva Shetty Endowment), Steven Rego of Mangaluru (Mahabaleshwar Bhat Edakkana Endowment), and KG Nagalakshmi Bai of Bengaluru (Sivashankar Nekraje Endowment).

Also recognized are Iqbal Kuthar (James Mendonsa Endowment), Rama Ajekar (Ashraf Shah Manthur Endowment), Ganesh Kasaragod (KWJ State Committee Endowment), Bhaskar K. Kasaragod (KWJ State Committee Endowment), Ajith Swarga (KWJ Endowment), and Mattikere Jayaram of Mandya, who will be awarded the K.K. Shetty Kuttikar Endowment.

The Kasaragod District Kannada Journalists' Welfare Association, active for over two decades, works in collaboration with pro-Kannada organizations to promote and preserve Kannada language, culture, and art. The association also acts as a cultural bridge between Kannada and Malayalam-speaking journalists.

The May 3 ceremony will be chaired by the reception committee head K.K. Shetty Kuttikar.

The event will be graced by dignitaries including Karnataka Legislative Council Speaker Basavaraj Horatti, Agriculture Minister Chaluvaraya Swamy, Forest Minister Eshwara Khandre, Karnataka Border Area Development Authority Chairman Somanna Bevinamarada, Chief Minister’s Media Advisor K.V. Prabhakar, Karnataka Working Journalists' Association President Shivananda Tagadoor, and Kasaragod District Kannada Development Authority President Ravi Naikap, read an official statement.

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Kandla (Gujarat) (PTI): A vessel carrying 20,000 metric tonnes of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) arrived at Deendayal Port Authority in Kandla in Gujarat after crossing the Strait of Hormuz amid the West Asia crisis, officials said on Sunday.

The Marshall Islands-flagged MV SYMI started its journey from Qatar and docked at the port in Kandla around 11.30 pm on Saturday after crossing the Strait of Hormuz on May 13, they added.

Since early March, 13 India-flagged vessels, comprising 12 LPG tankers and one crude oil tanker, have crossed the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway close to the coast of Oman through which roughly one-fifth of the world's energy supplies pass.

It has been severely disrupted by the conflict in West Asia that started on February 28, with the US and Israel launching joint attacks on Iran, triggering retaliatory strikes. It has resulted in one of the worst energy crisis the world has seen in recent decades.

Incidentally, at a special meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNECOSOC) on safeguarding energy and supply flows, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Parvathaneni Harish said targeting commercial shipping, endangering civilian crew and impeding freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is "unacceptable".

On May 13, an India-flagged commercial vessel came under attack off the coast of Oman.

Omani authorities rescued all 14 crew members of the vessel sailing from Somalia, but it was not immediately known who carried out the strike.