Columnist Dr. P. Sainath to inaugurate Mysuru Literary Fest-2025 tomorrow
News, Top Stories

Columnist Dr. P. Sainath to inaugurate Mysuru Literary Fest-2025 tomorrow

January 18, 2025

Mysuru:  The 6th edition of Mysuru Literary Fest-2025, organised by Mysore Literary Association (MLA), will be inaugurated by Dr. P. Sainath, Columnist and Author, at Maharaja’s College Centenary Hall in city tomorrow (Jan. 19) at 10 am.

Prof. K.C. Belliappa, Association President and former Vice-Chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh, will preside.

The formal inauguration will be followed by talks by various speakers: Dr. B.S. Ajaikumar, Oncologist and Entrepreneur, speaks on ‘Doctorpreneur’s Journey: Decades across Countries and Cultures’ at 11.30 am; Prof. S.M. Shivaprasad, Senior Scientist, on ‘Reimagining Indian Education for a Technologically Changing World’ at 12.30 pm; Prof. Rajendra Chenni, Literary and Cultural Critic, on ‘Conformity and Transgression: Women’s Poetry in Kannada’ at 2.30 pm while Lavanya Prasad, Professional Story-teller, speaks on ‘What’s your Story?’ at 3.30 pm.

Here we publish the profiles of chief guest Dr. P. Sainath and the four guest speakers.

Participation in the Fest is free and open to all English literature lovers. For details and registration, contact Mob: 99806-56631.

Dr. P. Sainath

Magsaysay Prize Winner Dr. P. Sainath is an Indian journalist, who focuses on social and economic inequality, deprivation and poverty, particularly in rural India. Though the recipient of over 60 national and global awards for journalism, Sainath has also declined several — including the Padma Bhushan in 2009 — as he believes “journalists should never accept prizes and rewards from the governments they cover and critique.”

Dr. Sainath has been conferred doctorates by several Universities. In India, he has taught journalism for 36 years. His book “Everybody Loves a Good Drought” was declared a Penguin Classic in 2013.

His more recent book, “The Last Heroes – Foot Soldiers of Indian Freedom” on India’s anti-colonial freedom struggle, brings in a new innovation. The book consists of the life stories of 15 very ordinary people (farmers, labourers, cooks, couriers, carpenters and others) eight of whom are still alive. At the end of each story is a QR code that, when scanned, takes readers to a ‘Freedom Fighters Gallery’ on PARI (People’s Archive of Rural India) where they can see videos and photo albums of each fighter.

A journalist since 1980, he has spent, on average, around 270 days a year in India’s poorest regions writing from there for India’s largest newspapers, including The Times of India and The Hindu.

In 2014, Dr. Sainath launched PARI, a unique online project on rural India, with a bewildering array of stories, occupations, arts, music, culture and a lot more. PARI, which publishes in 15 languages, is a totally independent multimedia digital platform creating a unique database. PARI has won 68 national and international awards in the first 90 months of its existence.

READ ALSO  Sixth Mysuru Literary Fest-2025: Akkamahadevi, a rebellious voice in Kannada poetry

Dr. Palagummi Sainath is now the A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. He is also a Distinguished Professor at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad.

Dr. B.S. Ajaikumar

Following his MBBS from St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore, Dr. B.S. Ajaikumar completed Residency training in Oncology from the University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville, and Fellowship in Radiation and Medical Oncology from the renowned MD Anderson Hospital in Houston, Texas. While building his practice in the US, he founded Bharath Hospital and Institute of Oncology, a Mysuru-based not-for-profit hospital in 1989. At the same time, along with a group of Oncologists, he incepted the Bangalore Institute of Oncology (BIO).

In 2003, Dr. Ajaikumar moved back to India with his family armed with a vision of expanding cancer care services. He realised his dream through HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd. (HCG), a hub-and-spoke institution headquartered in Bengaluru, with multiple centres spread across India to make cancer care accessible and affordable.

With an eye on end-to-end delivery of cancer care, Dr. Ajaikumar acquired Triesta, a leading molecular diagnostic lab. Today, HCG is at the forefront of molecular diagnostics and incorporating genomics to facilitate precision medicine.

Led by his interest in the fertility space in India, he partnered with Dr. Kamini Rao, under the Milann brand name, and established multiple centres across India. While HCG has established 26 comprehensive cancer care centres, Milann is soon expected to grow to 10 centres.

Dr. Ajaikumar, a recipient of many prestigious awards, continues to encourage and mentor other doctors and entrepreneurs in their own specialties. Today, under his leadership, cancer care in India has seen a paradigm shift. Being a social entrepreneur and philanthropist, he has incepted several NGOs engaged in phenomenal developmental work in Gundlupet district, Karnataka.

A Doctorpreneur, Eminent Radiation & Medical Oncologist and Executive Chairman of HCG, Dr. Ajaikumar is an avid marathon runner and a voracious reader.

Prof. S.M. Shivaprasad

Prof. S.M. Shivaprasad did his Post-Doctoral Research at Sussex University, following his Ph.D and Master’s  from Karnatak University. He currently serves as Dean at IIT Dharwad and has previously been Director of Karnataka State Higher Education Academy, Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research and Scientist at National Physical Laboratory. 

He has an Honorary Doctorate from VSK University, Young Scientist Award from President of India, Raja Ramanna Senior Scientist Award and Fellowship at Karnataka Science and Technology Academy.  Prof. Shivaprasad has also been a Visiting Scientist at NIST, Rutgers, Tohoku and ULM Universities.  He represents India at World Materials Research Forum, International Cooperation for Nanotechnology and International Union for Vacuum Science and Technology.

READ ALSO  Day-long 6th Mysuru Literary Fest-2025 begins - Social media adversely impacts natural thoughts: Dr. Sainath

Prof. Rajendra Chenni

Prof. Rajendra Chenni, formerly Professor of English at Kuvempu University, Karnataka, is presently Director, Manasa Centre for Cultural Studies in Shivamogga. The Centre provides training to scholars in multidisciplinary research.

A bilingual author with 21 books in Kannada and 7 in English to his credit, he has written for several journals and publications on socio-cultural and political issues. His areas of interest are cultural studies, history and literary theory. His works in English include ‘Traditions of Modernity,’ ‘Speaking for Someone,’ ‘Of Many Worlds,’ ‘Speaking for Karnataka’ (co-editor), ‘Mud Town’ (a novel), ‘Vachanas of Sarvajna’ (General Editor). Recently Manipal Universal Press published ‘State Matters: Kannada Sub-nationalism and State Formation (2023).’ His work as literary and cultural critic in Kannada has been recognised with several awards including Karnataka State Sahitya Akademi Award for Lifetime Achievement, D.R. Bendre National Award for contribution to criticism, G.S. Shivarudrappa Award, Inamdar Award and B. A. Sridhara Award for criticism in Kannada. He has been convenor of Communal Harmony Forum, Karnataka and Dakshinayana, Karnataka, Writers Movement against Fascism.

Lavanya Prasad 

Lavanya Prasad is an Electrical Engineer-turned-professional story-teller and believes she makes long-lasting connections using stories than electrical wires. She has been telling stories since 2011 through her organisation Talescope (www.talwescope.in) which works with children, adults and senior citizens using stories as a medium.

 A trained Bharatanatyam and classical music exponent, Lavanya’s  style of story-telling infuses these and her interest in mythology and folklore in her performances. Her workshops have been selected in international and national story-telling festivals and conferences, the most recent in international being South Korea where she was invited to hold a workshop on “The art of telling stories to senior citizens” to story-tellers and story-lovers from across the world.

As part of an International Storytelling Conference, Indonesia, she spearheaded the Ramayana presentations as a cultural collaboration between Indian and Indonesian story-tellers. She was also invited to present stories in Villu Paatu style for children and parents as part of a Children’s Literature Fest in Sri Lanka.

Her project, ‘Roots with senior citizens’ has been acknowledged  and appreciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Lavanya strongly believes that stories are the building blocks for a better nation and works extensively with teachers across boards in training them to use stories as a tool to create a positive impact to the students.

ABOUT

Mysuru’s favorite and largest circulated English evening daily has kept the citizens of Mysuru informed and entertained since 1978. Over the past 45 years, Star of Mysore has been the newspaper that Mysureans reach for every evening to know about the happenings in Mysuru city. The newspaper has feature rich articles and dedicated pages targeted at readers across the demographic spectrum of Mysuru city. With a readership of over 2,50,000 Star of Mysore has been the best connection between it’s readers and their leaders; between advertisers and customers; between Mysuru and Mysureans.

CONTACT

Academy News Papers Private Limited, Publishers, Star of Mysore & Mysuru Mithra, 15-C, Industrial ‘A’ Layout, Bannimantap, Mysuru-570015. Phone no. – 0821 249 6520

To advertise on Star of Mysore, email us at

Online Edition: [email protected]
Print Editon: [email protected]
For News/Press Release: [email protected]