The 82nd edition of the Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahithya Sammelan scheduled to begin from Friday in Raichur is all set to deliberate on diverse issues of Karnataka.
Deliberative sessions are designed in such a way that they focus on Karnataka’s socio-cultural-literary traditions and its contemporary issues. Since, the event is being organised in a border district — which is part of the backward Hyderabad Karnataka region — the issues of regional imbalances in general and that of Hyderabad Karnataka in particular, along with the issues of Gadinada Kannadigas have got fair space in the Sammelan. The literary fest will be inaugurated with the hoisting of the national flag, the Sahithya Parishat flag and the Karnataka State flag by Raichur in-charge Minister Tanveer Sait, Kannada Sahithya Parishat State president Manu Baligar and district president Basavaprabhu Patil Bettadur, respectively, at the main venue in UAS-R grounds at 8.30 a.m. on Friday.
A colourful procession of the sammelan’s president — Baraguru Ramachandrappa — will then be flagged off by S. Sasikanth Senthil, Deputy Commissioner and convenor of the reception committee, at Teen Kandeel. The procession will then go through major streets of Raichur to reach the venue at UAS-R grounds.
After keynote address by Mr. Baligar, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will inaugurate the three-day event at 11 a.m. and deliver his inaugural address, which will be followed by the speech of Siddalingaiah, writer and the president of the previous sahithya sammelan, held at Shravanabelagola. Nadoja Baraguru Ramachandrappa will then deliver his presidential address. Over 12 books and a souvenir will be released from the same stage. After the inauguration of cultural events by Umashree, Minister for Kannada and Culture, book stalls, commercial stalls, main venue, stage, main entrance and the rest will be inaugurated.
In the afternoon and evening, a session on Dalit-Bandaya literature and movements and another session on literature-culture and harmony will be organised in the main venue. At 5.30 p.m. on the same day, the former Minister for Water Resources, Basavaraj Bommai, will give a special lecture on the State’s irrigation prospects, water disputes and the way ahead.
Two more sessions — on women in the face of modernity and possibility of equal education — are planned on the same day in a parallel venue.
On Saturday, four sessions — on culture and politics, on agriculture, on regional imbalances and on mass media — are planned at the main venue. Writer Giraddi Govindaraj will deliver a special lecture on democracy and freedom of speech at 12.20 pm at the same venue. Four more sessions are planned at the parallel venue on the same day — on Kannada and new generation, on Raichur district, on book culture and poem recitation session. On Sunday morning, various people who have made significant contributions to society in their respective fields will be felicitated by the former Supreme Court Judge Justice Shivaraj Patil at the main venue. In the afternoon, an interactive session is planned, where 23 scholars will have a direct chat with Mr. Baraguru Ramachandrappa on various issues. In the concluding session in the evening, the former chief ministers, B.S. Yeddyurappa and H.D. Kumarswamy, will speak. In the parallel venue, three sessions — on Kannada literature, on possibilities of literary criticism in democracy and on Kannada culture and its diversity-uniqueness — have been planned.
