Mangaluru: A two-day national-level literary festival 'Mangaluru LitFest' under the theme 'The Idea of Bharat' began at Dr. TMA Pai International Center here on Saturday.

Dr. Vinay Hegde of Nitte Education Trust, Pro. Prafulla Ketkar of Organiser and journalist Sandhya Pai inaugurated the prestigious literary festival.

speaking about the Sabarimala issue, Vinay Hegde said " Courts should honor the religious sentiments of the people. Politics should be kept away from this. In the case of religious freedom, neither courts should intervene, nor should religious matters be made politics," he added.

Addressing the gathering, Sandhya Pai said, "Our elders built India with the concept of brilliance and awareness. we must reget the same brilliance and awareness that we have lost."

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New Delhi, Oct 24: The sports ministry on Thursday announced the discontinuation of the Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime achievement from this year onwards and the introduction of the Arjuna Award Lifetime in its place in a bid to "rationalise" the various sporting honours of the country.

Instituted in 2002, the Dhyan Chand Lifetime Award, named after hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand, is given to individuals in disciplines that are part of the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, among others.

In 2023, the award was given to former shuttler Manjusha Kanwar, ex-hockey exponent Vineet Kumar and kabaddi player Kavitha Selvaraj.

"The various schemes for sports awards have been rationalised wherein Arjuna Award (Lifetime) has been introduced in place of Dhyan Chand Award. To recognise the efforts of coaches at grassroots/development level, they are now eligible for the Dronacharya Award," said a ministry statement.

"The Arjuna Award (Lifetime) has been introduced and will be given for life time contribution to sports development.

"Further, to recognize the Khelo India scheme, the Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy will be given to the University for Overall Top Performance in Khelo India University Games," it added.

The last date for applying for the national sports awards for 2024 is November 14.