President confers Padma awards to three personalities from Karnataka

President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday conferred Padma Shri awards to three distinguished personalities from Karnataka, including H R Keshavamurthy, a renowned Gamaka singer.

Abdul Khadar Nadakattin, from Dharwad and Amai Mahalinga Naik from Dakshina Kannada, are others who received the awards. The award was announced on the occasion of Republic Day.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and some Union Ministers attended the civil investiture ceremony, held at Rashtrapati Bhavan,

Keshavamurthy: Murthy (86 years) is a Gamaka exponent from Hosahalli in Shivamogga district. An artist of the art form ‘Gamka’, he has been recognised globally for his style of singing.

Abdul Khader Nadakattin ( Innovation in Agriculture) (68 years): Abdul Khader is a native of Annigeri in Naval­gund taluk of Dharwad district. He is credited with over 40 innovations that assisted small and marginal farmers across India. Chairman of Vishwashanthi Agriculture Research Centre, Annigeri, he has developed a number of user-friendly agriculture innovations. One of his popular innovations is the Nadakattin-five-in-one. This equipment can perform five actions – deep digging, uprooting the grass when the farmland is wet, spraying herbal pesticides, applying fertilisers – and can be used even if the gap between the lines is four feet and can cover 20-25 acres in 12 hours.

Amai Mahalinga Naik ( Agriculture) (77 years): Naik is a farm labourer and a green revolutionary, known to many as the ‘one-man-army'. An innovative farmer from Dakshina Kannada, he is known as “Tunnel Man '' for digging tunnels to irrigate his barren land and transform it into a lush green farm. His farm in Adyanadka near Mangaluru, has over 300 areca nut palms, 75 coconut trees, 150 cashew trees, 200 banana plants and pepper vines.