Noted litterateur Ramchandra Behera was conferred with the prestigious Atibadi Jagannath Das Award

Bhubaneswar:28/7/21:o Noted litterateur Ramchandra Behera was n Wednesday conferred with the prestigious Atibadi Jagannath Das Award, the highest literary award of the Odisha Sahitya Akademi.

Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi, Minister for Odia Language Literature & Culture Department and Tourism, presented the award to Behera along with a prize amount of Rs 5 lakh at a special function held here today.

Apart from Behera, 15 other writers– Debendra Kumar Dash, Girija Shankar Sharma, Ashok Kumar Patnaik, Babaji Charan Patnaik, Baidhar Sahu, Jivan Krushna Mohapatra, Digaraj Brahma, Rudranarayan Prusti, Soubhagini Mishra, Swarajyalaxmi Mishra, Krupasindhu Nayak, Nirmalprava Nayak, Rassheswari Mishra, Radhabinod Nayak, and Maheswar Mulia–  were also felicitated with certificate, trophy and prize amount of Rs 1 lakh at the function.

Atibadi Jagannath Das Samman is awarded by Odisha Sahitya Akademi to Odia language litterateurs for their lifetime contribution to Odia literature. Panigrahi said, “The Department is committed to the development, prosperity, and honour of our writers and litterateurs. We are grateful to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s approval and support of our efforts.”

Notably, the Odisha Sahitya Akademi in its executive council meeting had announced the awardees. The president of the Akademi Hrusikesh Mallick presided over the function. Additional Secretary and Director, Culture, Ranjan Kumar Das highlighted the importance of attracting more people towards literature and books. The Akademi held various competitions across the State on this occasion on July 25. As many as 1,186 students from different parts of Odisha participated in these events.