Cultural activists must fulfil their responsibility of being corrective forces in society at times when it deviates from its principles, Minister for Cultural Affairs A.K. Balan has said.
Inaugurating an award presentation ceremony organised by the Centre for Heritage Studies here on Thursday, Mr. Balan said the Cultural Affairs Department was adopting steps to preserve the memories of all cultural icons who played significant roles in shaping the State.
He lamented that the values of Kerala’s renaissance movements were gradually being forgotten in the present world. The government aimed at preserving them and taking them forward, Mr. Balan said.
Lauding the efforts made by the Centre for Heritage Studies in preserving the memories of cultural greats, Mr. Balan said instituting awards in their name served the purpose to a large extent.
He presented the first E.M.S. Namboodiripad memorial award of 2017 to eminent historian, former Vice Chancellor of the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, and former vice chairman of the Kerala State Higher Education Council K.N. Panikkar.
The Sir. C. Sankaran Nair Memorial Award of 2017 was presented to historian and former Vice Chancellor of Calicut University K.K.N. Kurup.
The Padmabhushan Prof. A. Sreedhara Menon Memorial Heritage Award of 2017 was presented to historian and epigraphist M.R. Raghava Varier. The Sardar K.M. Panikker Memorial Award of 2017 was handed over to historian T.H.P. Chentharassery. The Pareekshith Thampuram Memorial Awards were presented to K. Ramakrishna Warrier, K. Vijayan, O. Vatsala, and C. Rajendran.
V.S. Sivakumar, MLA, presided over the function. Centre for Heritage Studies Director General T.P. Sankarankutty Nair, former Vice Chancellor of Kerala Kalamandalam K.G. Paulose, Kerala Council for Historical Research chairman P.K. Michael Tharakan, State Institute of Languages director V. Karthikeyan Nair, State Council for Educational Research and Training director J. Prasad, and Thiruvananthapuram Corporation councillor Vanchiyoor P. Babu were present.
