As many as nine achievers from Karnataka figure on the list of those chosen for the prestigious Padma awards for 2018. Cue sports stalwart Pankaj Advani has been chosen for the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in the country.
Eight persons have been chosen for Padma Shri. Rudrapatnam Brothers — R.N. Thyagarajan and R.N. Tharanathan, Ibrahim Sutar and R. Satynarayana have all been selected for the honour in the music category. The others are writer and film lyricist Doddarange Gowda (lyrics), Sitavva Jodatti from Belagavi (social work), midwife from Tumakuru Sulagitti Narasamma (social work), and Siddheshwara Swamiji (spiritualism).
Sufi singer
Known as Kannada Kabir, 77-year-old Sufi singer Ibrahim Sutar is famous for spreading social and communal harmony through his songs and bajanas for the last 40 years in Karnataka and neighbouring states.
Born at Mahalingapura in Mudhol taluk in Bagalkot district in 1940 in a poor family, Sutar set up Harmony Folk Music Mela (team of artists) in 1970.
He used funds collected at his performances and organised social welfare programmes including yoga sessions, set up water tanks in villages and built class rooms to government schools.
A weaver by profession, Sutar studied till Class 3. Sutar and his team members staged performances singing devotional songs in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi, Goa, Odisha and Rajasthan.
He is popular among masses in North Karnataka region for his spiritual discourses. He is married to Marembi and has three children.
1,500 deliveries in 70 years
The famous midwife from Tumakuru district Sulagatti Narasamma, 97, started performing traditional deliveries when she just a 16-year-old girl.
A resident of Krishnapura village of Pavagada taluk, Narasamma, has performed over 1,500 deliveries over the last 70 years, without failed evence once.
An illiterate Narasamma learnt midwifery from her grandmother Marigamma. She was married to Anjinappa, at the age of 12.
She performed traditional deliveries not only Karnataka, but also in neighbrouing Andhra Pradesh.
She also provides neonatal care for about nine days.
In 2013 she was chosen for a national award recognising her contribution to the women's health by performing out such a large number of deliveries among poor families in remote rural areas.
Such is her popularity that there are instances when people from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh have taken her to their villages for deliveries.
She is a recipient of Rajyotsava award. Tumkur university has conferred an honorary doctorate degree on her. A lesson on her life has been prescribed in Class 9th text book.
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