The Sahyadri awards which began last year, are given to nine eminent Maharashtrians in recognition of their excellence in their particular field of interest.

The nine Ratna awardees this year are Prabha Atre (Music), Sumitra Bhave (Films), Dr Ashok Kolaskar (Education), Jayadev/Rohini Hattangadi (Drama), Dhanraj Pillay (Sports), Meena Seshu (Social Work), Sada Dumbre (Journalism), Ahilya Rangnekar (Women achiever) and Gajanan Pendharkar (Industry).

The nine-member jury who decided on the final list of Ratna awardees included editor of Marathi daily Loksatta Kumar Ketkar, cricketer Sandeep Patil and state director general information & publicity Bhushan Gagarani to name a few.

Bollywood actor Hema Malini will inaugurate the awards, which will be telecast on the Sahyadri channel on 1 May (from 4 pm to 7 pm).

Some of the popular shows on Sahyadri channel which went 24 hours this month airs includeMahacharcha ,a live phone- in talk show which discusses current topics, Ghatnachakra , Sahyadrichya Paulkhuna and Chitrapat Khajina which showcases Marathi feature films.

Sahyadri Kendra has also undertaken the production of short stories of Marathi, Hindi and Urdu literature.