Bangalore: Austin Santosh Receives ‘Aryabhata International Award 2009’
Daijiworld Media Network—Bangalore (CN)
Bangalore, Apr 14: Bahrain resident and a senior member of Kannada Sangha Bahrain, Austin Santhosh, was awarded the ‘Aryabhata International Award 2009’ along with other 60 other personalities recently in the city.
Santhosh, former president of Kannada Sangha, has won the prestigious award for his social and cultural work in the Kingdom.
The award is presented by the Aryabhata Cultural Association, a well-known socio-cultural organization based in Bangalore.
The glittering awards ceremony was attended by Ramachandra Gowda, Karnataka minister for medical education, S R Nayak, chairman, Karnataka Human Rights Commission, well-known writer Chidananda Moorthy, and HLN Rao, founder secretary, Aryabhata Cultural Association.
Besides Santhosh, Dr Master Hirannaiah, a doyen of Kannada theatre, Dr H S Ballal, pro-chancellor, Manipal University, and famous film actress Jayamala also received awards.
A senior member of the Kannada Sangha, Santhosh joined the organization in 1984. He served as entertainment secretary of the Sangha in the 80s and organized many Kannada cultural and musical events as well as Kannada plays.
In 1994 he served as the general secretary of the organization during which time the memorable ‘Karnatakotsava’ was held.
A stage actor himself, he has been actively involved in organizing many Kannada and Tulu festivals and cultural activities in Bahrain over the past 25 years.
Santhosh was elected president of the Sangha twice (in 2002-2003 and 2008-2009). During his first term as president, the Sangha celebrated its silver jubilee and the prestigious Karnataka State Award was presented to the Sangha.
During his second term, the mega ‘Sambhrama 2008’, a cultural festival attended by the well-known Dr Veerendra Heggade of Dharmasthala, was held.
Also, Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, along with a 12-member delegation, made a historic visit to Bahrain and attended the ‘Kannada Vaibhava 2008’ a mega cultural event.
During the function, Santhosh had presented to Yeddyurappa a proposal to build a Kannada Bhavana for the benefit of people from Karnataka living in Bahrain.
Yeddyurappa, who was extremely pleased with the activities of the Sangha, announced a grant of Rs 1 crore for the proposed Kannada Bhavana and the Karnataka government authorized the release of the amount in January 2010.
The Sangha also received the ‘Alva’s Nudisi Award 2008’ under Santhosh’s leadership.
A regular blood donor for the last 25 years in Bahrain, he has been honoured by the ministry of health, government of Kingdom of Bahrain.
Earlier to his arrival to Bahrain, Santhosh was actively involved in youth movement in Mangalore. He was the office bearer of YMCA Mangalore, Rotaract Club of Port Town Mangalore, President of Mulky Block Youth Congress, General Secretary of Sri. Vidya Vinayaka Yuvaka Mandala Halenagadi and Executive committee member of New Mangalore Port Staff Association.