Bengaluru: Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh and former BJP Rajya Sabha Member Prabhakar Kore are among the eight personalities from Karnataka to feature on the list of 131 Padma awardees this year.

While Shatavadhani Dr. Ganesh has been awarded ‘Padma Bhushan’ in the category of Art, Dr. Prabhakar Kore, who has been chosen in the field of Literature and Education, is among the seven from the State who have been conferred with ‘Padma Shri’ award.

Apart from Kore, the six other personalities from the State who have been conferred the ‘Padma Shri’ award are — M. Ankegowda, who runs ‘Pustakamane’, a private Library at Pandavapura, that is spreading  literacy by providing free access to books, Dr. Suresh Hanagavadi of Davangere in the category of Medicine, S.G. Susheelamma, the co-founder of Sumangali Seva Ashrama in Bengaluru in 1975, in the field of Social work, Bengaluru based Aerospace Scientist Shubha Iyengar, chosen under Science and Engineering category, Shashi Shekhar Vempati, who took Doordarshan and Akashvani into the digital age as the Youngest Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Prasar Bharati, under the category of Literature and Education and  late T.T. Jagannathan, who headed the TTK group, in the category of Trade and Industry, posthumously.

The 131 Padma awards include five Padma Vibhushan, 13 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri awards. The recipients from other States include 8 personalities from Kerala, 11 from West Bengal and 13 from Tamil Nadu, all poll-bound States where Assembly elections are due in a couple of months.

While the Padma Vibhushan is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service, Padma Bhushan is for distinguished service of high order and Padma Shri for distinguished service in any field.

M. Ankegowda, a quiet bibliophile who has devoted his life for preserving knowledge, has been honoured by the Union Government with Padma Shri award for establishing ‘Pustakamane’ (House of books), at  his native village Haralahalli, which is one of India’s largest private libraries.

A native of Haralahalli in Pandavapura taluk of Mandya district, the 76-year-old Ankegowda is a former employee of Pandavapura Sahakara Sakkare Kharkhane (PSSK) at Pandavapura and is popularly known as Pustakamane Ankegowda.

His love for books began in childhood and grew into a life-long mission. Over the last five decades, he transformed his home into a free public Library, with no membership or usage fee. Today, the Library houses more than 20 lakh books and magazines, including rare and out of print works, newspapers, research Journals and manuscripts. The collection spans over 20 Indian and foreign languages and includes more than 5,000 dictionaries, nearly 5 lakh rare foreign publications, 35,000 International magazines, 2,500 Kannada magazines, 2,500 titles on Mahatma Gandhi, 2,500 books on Bhagavad Gita and over 100 religious texts, including the Bible. Maintained with meticulous care, Putakamane has become an important centre for students, scholars, writers and researchers from across the state and the country.

Speaking to Star of Mysore, Ankegowda said, he felt deeply honoured for having been selected for Padma Shri award. Pointing out that though he never pursued any awards or recognition, he was happy to have got one of the prestigious awards of the country. He was guided by the belief that ‘Books are divine and a library is a temple of knowledge,’ he added.