A total of 27 artistes and two co-ordinators, belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities have been selected to participate in the eighth Association of Kannada Kootas of America (AKKA) conference scheduled to be held at San Jose, U.S., from August 29 to 31.
Of the 27 artistes, 10 are from Mysore district, six artistes from Chickballapur, three each from Belgaum and Kolar, two from Chamarajanagar, and one each from Hassan, Mandya and Bangalore.
Only two women figure in the list. The government will incur an expenditure of around Rs. 54.3 lakh to send the artistes to participate in the three-day meet, which is aimed at promoting and preserving Kannada and culture in the U.S.
Though the organisers invited Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to participate in the inaugural programme, he will not attend the conference. He has dispatched his message and greetings to the organisers, officials in the Chief Minister’s Office told The Hindu on Monday.
Order
An order issued by the Social Welfare Department has directed the Director, Kannada and Culture Department, to release funds under the special component plan. Established in 1998, AKKA is a non-profit organisation formed to integrate, coordinate, network and unite the activities of all Kannadigas and Kannada kootas in the U.S.
The artistes were selected by the Social Welfare Department and not by the Kannada and Culture Department. The government will incur expenditure related to visa, passport, travel, insurance and artistes’ costumes.
Selected persons The artistes who have been selected for the conference are: Madaiah Narasimhamurthy, R. Ravikumar, R. Somaraju, R. Raghunath, D.R. Rajappa, Mohan Kumar, Ramayya Kundayya, Munivenkatappa Pampanna, Prasanna Kumar P.M., Madhu, M. Venkateshappa, Muniyappa, Srinivasayya, Madappa, Venkateshappa, C. Manjunath, Manchaiah, C. Dinesh Kumar, Karthik, R. Hemanth Kumar, Ravi, Murthy, Nanjunda, Radhabhai, Maruthi, Laxmibai and Sudhakar P.
The coordinators are Srininvasa G. Kappanna of Bangalore and Sirigere Gurusiddaiah Prabhu of Chitradurga. A group of Congress legislators have planned to visit the U.S. to participate in the conference. The government will not sponsor their tour.
