Karnataka Media Academy announces awards for 2023, 2024
Vartha Bharati's Editor-in-Chief gets Lifetime Achievement Award
Bengaluru: The Karnataka Media Academy announced its Lifetime Achievement Awards, Annual Awards, and Endowment Awards for 2023 and 2024 on Thursday.
The prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award for 2023 was announced for veteran journalist A.C. Shivanna. For 2024, Abdussalam Puthige, Editor-in-Chief of Vartha Bharati, was selected for this honor for his significant contributions to journalism.
Among the Annual Award recipients for 2023 was Ibrahim Adkasthala from Vartha Bharati, recognized for his outstanding work. Muhammad Akheel, also from Vartha Bharati, received an Endowment Award for his impactful reporting.
Several other journalists were acknowledged for their exceptional contributions over the two years. Notable recipients of the 2023 Annual Awards included Gangadhar Modliyar, Prof. Usha Rani N., Sushilendra Nayak, Vasudeva Holla, Alfred Tennison, and others who excelled in various fields of journalism.
For 2024, recipients of the Annual Awards included Prof. A.S. Balasubrahmanya, Rishikesh Bahadur Desai, Subhash Huggar, and several other notable journalists whose work brought significant attention to pressing issues in society.
The Endowment Awards highlighted excellence in specific categories. The Kannadamma Patrike Award was given to Ravi Kumar Channabasappa Kagganavar for his report on KYC updates and Vijay Kotiyaan from Vijay Karnataka for his feature on intellectuals. The
Mysuru Diganta Award recognized Shivananda Gombi of Kannada Prabha for his report on villagers emptying lake water and Sandhya Hegde of Prajavani for her feature on a beedi worker’s dream cut short.
Other significant awards included the Praja Sandesha Award for Shilpa P. of Deccan Herald for her report on manual scavenging, the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Mookanayaka Award to K. Neela from Kalaburagi, and the C.V. Rajagopal Memorial Award to K.M. Ravishankar from Kannada Prabha.
Special mentions for 2024 included Muhammad Akheel from Vartha Bharati for his report on untouchability in Koppal, B.K. Devayya from Republic Kannada News for his report on delayed pensions, and Nandeesh Mallenahalli from Suvarna News for a series on land allocation for the specially-abled.
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UDF leaders see local body poll trends as pointer to 2026 Assembly elections in Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Buoyed by the strong performance of the Congress-led UDF in the local body polls, KPCC president Sunny Joseph said on Saturday that the front's results indicated the people had rejected the LDF government.
According to early trends, the UDF was leading in more grama panchayats, block panchayats, municipalities and corporations than the LDF.
The local body polls were held in two phases in the state earlier this week.
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Speaking to reporters here, Joseph said the people of Kerala had extended their support to the UDF.
"We could expose the LDF government’s anti-people stance and the people understood it. The LDF’s fake propaganda was rejected by the people. The UDF is moving towards a historic victory," he said.
He said a united effort, proper preparations, good candidate selection and hard work had resulted in the Congress and the UDF’s victory in the elections.
Asked about the prospects in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, Joseph said the party was studying the matter and would comment later.
LDF convenor T P Ramakrishnan said the results would be closely examined.
According to him, the government had done everything possible for the people.
"Why such a verdict happened will be examined at the micro level. People’s opinion will be considered and further steps will be taken," he said.
He added that decisions would be taken after analysing the results. "If any corrective measures are required, we will initiate them and move forward," he said.
AICC leader K C Venugopal said the results showed that people had begun ousting those who, he alleged, were responsible for the loss of gold at Lord Ayyappa’s temple.
"This trend will continue in the Assembly elections as well. It is an indication that the people are ready to bring down the LDF government," he said.
Venugopal said the UDF had registered victories even in CPI(M) and LDF strongholds.
"I congratulate all UDF workers for their hard work. Congress workers and leaders worked unitedly," he said.
Referring to remarks made by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan against the Congress on polling day, Venugopal said the voters had responded through the verdict.
"I do not know whether the chief minister understands that the people are against him. Otherwise, he does not know the sentiment of the people. The state government cannot move an inch further," he said.
He said the results indicated a strong comeback for the UDF in Kerala.
Asked whether the Sabarimala gold loss issue had affected the LDF in the local polls, Venugopal said the CM and the CPI(M) state secretary did not take the issue seriously.
"We took a strong stand on the matter. The BJP played a foul game in it," he alleged.
On the BJP's role in the local body elections, Venugopal alleged that the party operated with the CPI(M) 's tacit support.
"The CPI(M) supported the central government on issues such as PM-SHRI, labour codes and corruption in national highway construction. The CPI(M) is facing ideological decline, and the state government’s policies are against the party’s own decisions," he said.
Meanwhile, LDF ally Kerala Congress (M) leader Jose K Mani said the party could not win all the wards it had expected in the elections.
He congratulated winners from all parties and said the party would closely examine the losses and identify shortcomings. "Later, we will take corrective measures," he added.
Senior Congress leader and MP Rajmohan Unnithan said the trends in the local body elections indicated that the UDF would return to power in the 2026 Assembly elections.
"We will win 111 seats as in 1977 and return to power in 2026. The anti-government sentiment of the people is reflected in the elections," he said.
Unnithan said the people were disturbed and unhappy with the present government.
"The trend indicates the end of the LDF government," he added.
CPI(M) MLA M M Mani said the people had shown ingratitude towards the LDF despite benefiting from welfare schemes.
"After receiving all welfare schemes and living comfortably, people voted against us due to some temporary sentiments. Is that not ingratitude," he asked.
Mani said no such welfare initiatives had taken place in Kerala earlier.
"People are receiving pensions and have enough to eat. Even after getting all this, they voted against us. This is what can be called ingratitude," he said.
Muslim League state president Panakkad Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said the results were beyond expectations.
"The outcome points towards the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, indicating that a change of government is imminent. We are going to win the Assembly election," he said.
