Anargha (C) with her parents. Thiruvananthapuram: Acting on a letter written to him by an aggrieved student who lost her chance to participate in the State School Art Festival allegedly due to bad calls by judges at the district level, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan instructed the authorities concerned to make judging of the competitions at the arts fest,complaint-free, fair, and transparent.
The chief minister issued directions to the Education Department to ensure that the appeals were settled in a fair and just manner at the 57th Kerala State School Arts Festival, scheduled to begin in Kannur on Monday.
The education minister was told to put in place measures to implement guidelines to prevent ugly disputes and put an end to the practice of fixing of top prizes.
As per the order, the director of the Vigilance and Ant-Corruption Bureau (VACB) will scrutinize the conduct and judgment of the competitions, so that the mega event is held in a systematic way, leaving no room for complaints or discrepancies of any kind.
The chief minister's directive came in the wake of a letter from I.S. Anargha of St John's Model Higher Secondary School, Nalanchira, Thiruvananthapuram.
Upon receiving the letter, the chief minister invited her to appear in person to represent her grievances.
During the meeting held at the chief minister’s office, Anargha complained that she was denied a top prize at the District School Arts Festival, despite securing first prize and A grade in Keralanadanam at the sub-district level. She told the chief minister that her chances were hampered by a ‘mafia’ which had the last say in awarding prizes and grades.
Anargha had won the second prize with A grade at the District School Arts Festival, last year. Though she had filed an appeal, it was rejected by the committee.
However, she participated in the State School Arts Festival after securing a favorable order from the Lok Ayukta, and went on win the second place with A grade.
The student alleged that the result did not go down well with some vested interests who threatened her that they would make sure her exit at the sub-district level itself, this year.
She also produced evidence to substantiate her claims about the involvement of a lobby and its alleged attempts to influence the judges.
According to her, she lost the chance to take part in Kuchipudi and Keralanadanam events at the State School Arts Festival as a result of biased decisions.
Anargha, who lost both her parents at a very young age, was brought up by her uncle P. Radhakrishnan Nair. He raised Anargha along with his two daughters and ensured proper education of the child.
Radhakrishnan Nair, who drives an autorickshaw to eke out a living, said that as he was struggling to fund even the education of his children, it was difficult for him to find enough money to file appeals at arts festivals.
The chief minister consoled the girl telling that those with money power could only succeed in keeping her away from arts festivals but they could not take away the inborn talent from her.
Known as 'school kalolsavam' and 'yuvajanotsavam' in local parlance, the annual event features competition of a number of art forms, including many traditional ones of the state like Kathakali music, Mohiniyattom, Aksharaslokam, Margomkali, Kuchipudi, Yakshaganam, Chavittunatakam and Duffmuttu.
Eminent Malayalam playback singer K.S. Chitra will be the chief guest during the inaugural ceremony and education minister C. Raveendranath will preside over the function.
The overall winning revenue district would be presented with the 'ever-rolling golden cup' at the finale of the week-long gala which would come to a close on January 22.
Malayalam film actress like Manju Warrier, Kavya Madhavan and Navya Nair besides actor Vineeth are some of the artistes who forayed into filmdom through the youth festival.
