Citizens with impressive track record of doing good in various activities in the cause of making life of people at large free of their life’s woes used to be recognised and honoured with titles appropriate to their field of excellence by the monarchs of the erstwhile Princely State of Mysore. The practice ceased from the time monarchy merged with the democratic dispensation with the dawn of Independence from colonial rule seven decades ago. Mysureans in their advanced age can recollect the names of such titles like Raja Seva Dhureena, Dharma Rathnakara and so on.
The citizens who were thus honoured could proudly prefix these titles to their names and the citizenry took care to accord them importance in public functions, signalling total societal acknowledgement of their esteem. As if to carry on with that now defunct practices, the State Government has introduced Rajyotsava Awards. While the number of citizens bestowed royal recognition in the days past could be counted in single digit, the awardees honoured by the Government of the day in the State are virtually dime-a-dozen, considerably lowering their societal image itself.
