Mangalore, February 13: "Education is just not acquisition of information. It involves social, cultural and spirtual development of human beings. Despite mankind achieving tremendous progress in the field of science and technology, a sense of monotony has engulfed people's minds. Relationships have taken a beating as family ties have become weak and human activities are increasingly being evaluated in terms of material benefits and losses," said Prof TC Shivashankara Murthy, Vice Chancellor of Mangalore University here on Sunday.
He was speaking after bestowing annual Sandesha awards on 10 luminaries belonging to diverse fields under the auspices of Sandesha Foundation for Culture and Education at their premises in Premanagara, Bajjody.
The awardees included Dr Saa Shi Marulayya for Kannada literature, Paul Moras for Konkani literature, Kukkady Vishwanath Rai Puttur for Tulu literature, Vittal Shetty for Arts, MS Narasimha Murthy for Cinema/TV, Gauri Lankesh for Journalism, Veereshwara Punyashrama for Media Education, Sunith Prabhu for Best Teaching, Konkani Kogul Wilfy Rebimbus Memorial Sandesha Konkani Music Award for Walter Albuquerque SJ Mangalore, and Sandesha Special Recognition Award for Raymond D'Souza. Each award included a cash prize of Rs 10,000, a citation, a shawl and a trophy.
Congratulating the awardees Prof Shankaramurthy said the Sandesha awards distinguished themselves from other awards as applications were not soliticited for selecting the awardees. "The awardees are picked up by an eminent jury who relentlessly look for genuine achievers with great degree of excellence," he observed.
Expressing his concern that there are a number of educational institutions who were totally commercialised, Prof Shankaramurthy said, institutions like Sandesha have been imparting an blend of education by putting together a very innovative curriculam. "Sandesha has made it possible for students from less affluent sections to take up what was earlier considered as an elite stream pursued only by rich namely art, music and dance.
Prof Marulayya, in his acceptance speech reacalled Jesus Christ's exhortation "You are the salt of the earth," and said the Gandhiji's movement against imposition of tax on salt was in fact a metaphor for the outrage the Indians had against the colonialists.
Gauri Lankesh, in her acceptance speech, recalled that her father was one of the early recepients of the media award two decades ago. "Now that I have got the award, I believe we are on the right track. I consider this as an award to the entire Lankesh fraternity and an endorsement of our fight against inequality and injustice."
She also hit out at Sangh Parivar indirectly by saying, "the dream of Lankesh Patrike is to weed out elements which are hell bound on creating inequality in the society. We are against forces who advocate drenching of night soil on Daliths. We are against people who tortured innocent Muslims in Aadi Udupi two years ago under the pretext of cow protection. Our fight will also continue against those who unleashed series of attacks on churches in Karnataka."
All the other awardees also spoke and thanked the organisers for acknowledging their work.
Fr Valarian Mendonca, director of Sandesha, welcomed the gathering. Dr Na Di'Souza, member of the jury, gave an overview of Sandesha awards. Dr Aloysius Paul D'Souza, Bishop of Mangalore, presided over the function. Galdin D'Souza, trustee Sandesha, proposed a vote of thanks. Akashavani artiste Manjula compered the programme, which was followed by rendering of Kannada song, folk dance and English song.
The jury members including Richard Louis, Dr Na Da Shetty, Fr Mark Valder, Dr Fr Charles Vas, SVD, Joel Pereira and Concepta Fernandes Alva were present.
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