Why in news?

 Actor late Puneeth Rajkumar will be conferred with the ‘Karnataka Ratna’ award  the highest civilian honour in Karnataka

Highlights

• Since 2009, only eight people have been conferred with the award.
• Karnataka govt invites Rajinikanth, Jr NTR for event

All about Karnataka ratna award:

• The Karnataka Ratna is the highest civilian honour of the State of Karnataka, India.
• It is awarded in recognition of a person’s extraordinary contribution in any field. It was instituted in the year 1992 by the Government of Karnataka.
• A total of ten persons have received this award.
• Kuvempu and Dr. Rajkumar was the first to and Veerendra Heggade was lately honoured in 2009 for social service
• The Award comes with a gold medal weighing 50 gm, a citation, a memento and a shawl

List of Personalities received the award

• Kuvempu- Literature
• Rajkumar- Cinema
• Nijalingappa- Politics
• N. R. Rao- Science
• Devi Shetty- Medicine
• Bhimsen Joshi- Music
• Shivakumara Swami- Social service
• Javare Gowda- Education, literature
• Veerendra Heggade- Social service
• Dr. Puneeth Rajkumar- Cinema, social service