Thinkers’ forum seeks Bharat Ratna to Devaraj Urs

The Bengaluru-based Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Thinkers Forum-Karnataka has appealed to the prime minister to posthumously confer the Bharat Ratna on the former chief minister, late D Devaraj Urs.

Hailing "Land to the tiller" clarion call of Urs as the tour-de-force in the history of Karnataka, the thinkers' forum stated that the historic Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1961, was the brainchild of Devaraj Urs and helped in addressing social inequality among the agricultural classes.

Recalling his pro-people legislation and policies such as the abolition of bonded labour, redistribution of land to the landless, setting up of hostels for the underprivileged, and others, the forum pointed that present-day Electronics City had conceptual genesis during his tenure as the CM of Karnataka.

The thinkers' forum includes a former judge of Supreme Court Justice V Gopala Gowda, former chairperson of Kannada Development Authority Baraguru Ramachandrappa, former advocate general of Karnataka Prof Ravi Varma Kumar, BS Shivanna, chairperson of the Thinkers Forum and several advocates of the high court and academicians.