Mysuru: Mysuru Sharana Mandali had organised a function at Hosmutt in Agrahara here on Friday for conferring ‘Basava Ratna’ awards on achievers in various fields.

The awards were conferred on senior IAS Officer D. Bharathi, poetess Dr. Latha Rajashekar, Dasti Educational Institutions Founder Dr. D. Thimmaiah, Mahalakshmi Sweets Proprietor Shivakumar and social activist H.M. Natesh by Sri Chidananda Swamiji of Hosmutt.

Inaugurating the programme, MLA S.A. Ramdas said that Basavanna was a great social reformer and lauded the Sharana Mandali in identifying achievers and honouring them. He asked people to shun casteism and to be humans first.

KIKS Director Dr. Nilgiri M. Talawar, Kannada Sahitya Parishat Mysuru President Dr. Y.D. Rajanna, Mandali President Muguru Nanjundaswamy, Convenor M. Chandrashekar and others were present during the programme.