First 'Kempegowda International Award'

Tags: Awards

Former Karnataka Chief Minister S. M. Krishna, Infosys founder and IT industry veteran N. R. Narayana Murthy, and former badminton player Prakash Padukone have been selected for the 'Kempegowda International Award'.

• Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai presented the awards to the recipients during a grand ceremony on the 513th birth anniversary of Bengaluru city architect Kempegowda.

• The award has been instituted by the state government in honour of Kempegowda, the founder of Bengaluru, earlier this year.

• The award carries a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh along with a memento.

• The government had constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Prashant Prakash, head of the start-up vision group, to nominate candidates for the award.

• The award will be presented to achievers in different fields 

• Who was Kempegowda?

• Kempegowda was noted as an intelligent and art-loving king during the Vijayanagara Empire.

• Kempegowda ruled for about 56 years from 1513 while his father Kempnanje Gowda ruled for 70 years.

• He decided to make Bangalore his capital in 1537 and redesigned Bengaluru.

• Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport is also named after him.

• His 108 feet high statue has been installed at Bangalore airport.