Social worker Padma Shri Awardee Ms.Anita Reddy, working in the area of housing, education, livelihoods for the poor, rights of people living in slums for over 28 years, Jayanagar MLA B.N.Vijay Kumar, BBMP Commissioner H.Siddaiah, Vasudeva Adiga the pioneer of Darshini  hotels that serves delicious food at affordable prices and T. Raja ( Auto Raja) who has devoted his life to rescue and rebuild the lives of  destitute and dying people of the streets among the 10 proud winners of Namma Bengaluru Awards, 2010.

Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde and Member of Parliament Rajeev Chandrasekhar give away the Namma Bengalorean of the Year Award to Padmashree Anitha Reddy. Pic courtesy: Trigam Mukherjee.

Anita Reddy, Founding Trustee, AVAS won the coveted Namma Bengalurean of the Year, B N Vijay Kumar won the award in the Elected Representative category, Vasudeva Adiga, Managing Director of Adigas Fast Food Pvt Ltd won award in the Entrepreneur category,  H Siddaiah, Commissioner of BBMP won the award in the Public Individual category and T Raja won the award in the Private Individual category. 

Other winners of the Namma Bengaluru Awards 2010 are Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness (Category Private Institution), Dr Radha Murthy, Founder & Managing Trustee, Nightingales Medical Trust (Private Individual Category), Vijaya  Rao Shinde, volleyball player and Anupama Puchimanda, first ever woman hockey umpire  (Sportsperson Category) and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Public Institution Category).

The awards were presented on Saturday at a glittering event marked with music, dance and fervour. Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Jury, Namma Bengaluru Awards gave away the coveted awards to the winners. 

Professor G S Siddalingaiah, noted poet welcomed the gathering and spoke about the important role played by the citizens to protect and nurture the values of Bengaluru. 

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Member of Parliament and Chairman of Jury said “At a time, when citizens are being buffeted by news every day of political corruption and increasingly feel let down by its political and bureaucratic leadership, Bangaloreans have a reason to be proud – Proud of its heroes who are devoted to our city and its residents. On our part as Bengalureans, It is important that we recognize, salute, respect and are inspired by these heroes and their extra ordinary contributions”. 

The two hour function that followed the awards night was packed with music and dance and depicted the cultural diversity of our city where the new and old have come together in a magnificent embrace. Performances included cultural dance act by Antardwani, Swarathma – Bangalore based Indian folk/fusion band and musical evening by popular music director Guru Kiran and dance by Kannada actress Sanjana. 

Winners of the Namma Bengaluru Awards seated, in front of Behind are all the jury members of the award. Pic courtesy: Trigam Mukherjee.

The presentation and entertainment that followed was witnessed by officials, dignitaries, celebrities, families of nominees, members of the awards’ jury and a large enthusiastic crowd. While the winners received standing ovation, the artistes who regaled the audiences received the well deserved applause.  

Subhashini Vasanth, Jury Member, Namma Bengaluru Awards, 2010 proposed a vote of thanks. 

Jury’s Choice 

Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde was among the eminent jury that consisted of 23 members who are prominent citizens of Bengaluru from the fields of art, culture, music, literature and environment. The jury, after several marathon sittings, short-listed 26 finalists in four categories. Of this, names of 10 eventual winners were selected. PriceWaterHouseCoopers supervised the process of nomination and selection to ensure fairness and transparency.

Details of Categories and Winners

Public Institution: BMTC      
Public Individual: H Siddaiah      
Elected Representatives: B N Vijay Kumar      
Private Institution: Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA)      
Private Individual: Dr Radha S Murthy, T Raja
Sportsperson: Vijay Rao Shinde and Anupama Puchimanda
Entrepreneur: Vasudeva Adiga
Bengalurean of the Year: Anita Reddy

About Namma Bengaluru Awards 

The Namma Bengaluru Awards were instituted with an aim to recognize extra-ordinary contributions to Bengaluru by ordinary citizens of the city and perhaps is the first of its kind in India where citizens of the city vote nominate their choice for winners. This year Awards evoked tremendous interest and enthusiasm among Benglureans and over 10,000 nominations were received for 8 categories.  

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