Mysuru: Rangavahini, Nele Hinnele and Ram Manohar Lohia Trust together had organised a function on June 2 at the Mini Theatre in Kalamandira premises here to confer ‘Mullur Nagaraj Award’ on N. Ravikumar, a poet from Shivamogga.

Inaugurating the programme, Kannada Book Authority former Chairman Dr. Banjagere Jayaprakash hailed Mullur Nagaraj as a writer and poet who voiced protest against hunger, humiliation, insecurity and inhumanity through his (Nagaraj) poems.

He recalled that Nagaraj was neither from a well-to-do family nor an influential writer to pull strings and always fought for the oppressed class.

Continuing, Jayaprakash observed that moral values of life were on the decline with every action turning ostentatious veiling the basic factual details.

He regretted that Kannada language and literature have today knelt before English, said to be just a marketing language.

Speaking on the occasion, after presenting the award to Ravikumar, senior writer Dr. Dharanidevi Malagatti opined that creating a pure society with zero contamination is not an easy task which demands a healthy society with literary treatment provided by writers.

University of Mysore (UoM) Professor D. Anand, former Rangayana Director H. Janardhan, journalist Ravi Koti, Theatre Artiste K.R. Gopalakrishna, Rangavahini President C.M. Narasimha Murthy, Gen. Secretary Shivakumar Kempanapura, Convenor Rubin Sanjay and others were present.