A voice that guided generations of Karnataka's youth toward self-confidence and mental well-being has fallen silent. The Chief Minister's Office of Karnataka on Thursday, 24 September 2026, conveyed the condolences of Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on the passing of Dr. Anand Pandurangi, a celebrated psychiatrist, orator, and columnist from Dharwad.

Expressing deep grief, CM Shivakumar wrote: 'ಅತೀವ ದುಃಖ ತಂದಿದೆ' — 'this news has brought immense sorrow' — and prayed that God grant the departed's family, relatives, and admirers the strength to bear this loss. He signed off with 'ಓಂ ಶಾಂತಿ' — Om Shanti — the traditional invocation of eternal peace.

Decades of service to psychiatry and public awareness

Dr. Pandurangi dedicated decades to the field of psychiatry, going well beyond the clinic. He was a sought-after public speaker who carried conversations about mental health into schools, colleges, and community halls at a time when the subject carried heavy stigma. His columns reached readers who would never have walked into a psychiatrist's office, making him one of the more quietly consequential voices in Karnataka's intellectual life.

His particular focus on youth — nurturing personality development, building self-confidence, and fostering positive thinking among students — gave him an audience and an impact that outlasted any single lecture or publication. For many young Kannadigas, he was the first credible voice telling them that their minds deserved the same care as their bodies.

The Karnataka Rajyotsava Award and the Dr. B.C. Roy recognition

Two honours especially marked the scale of Dr. Pandurangi's recognition. The Karnataka Rajyotsava Award — the state's premier civilian honour, conferred each year on Karnataka Formation Day — acknowledged his distinguished service to the state. The Dr. B.C. Roy Award, instituted by the Medical Council of India and regarded as one of the most prestigious national citations for physicians and medical teachers, placed him in a small company of doctors whose contributions extend beyond treatment into education and public service.

Together, the two awards traced the arc of a career that was simultaneously local in its roots — rooted in Dharwad, a city with a long tradition of intellectual and cultural life — and national in its recognition.

A tradition of formal tribute and what follows

Karnataka governments have a consistent tradition of issuing formal condolences when citizens decorated with state and national awards in medicine or public life pass away. Such tributes do more than mark individual loss; they signal the contours of what the state considers valuable service. Mental-health awareness and youth development, the two pillars of Dr. Pandurangi's public work, have periodically featured in state-level programmes since the early 2000s, and his legacy may yet find a reference point in upcoming health-budget discussions on psychiatric and community-health initiatives.

Karnataka has lost a psychiatrist who understood that healing begins with a conversation — and who spent a lifetime starting those conversations at scale.