21 eminent citizens to receive Ekushey Padak on Saturday

This year's Ekushey Padak will be handed over on Saturday to 21 distinguished citizens of the country for their outstanding contributions in their respective fields.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will virtually join the award-giving event at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in Dhaka from her official residence Ganabhaban, according to the Press Information Department (PID).

Organized by the Cultural Affairs Ministry, the program will commence at 11am. 

The ministry announced the names of the 21 winners on February 4.

Under the language and literature category, poet Quazi Rosy, Bulbul Chowdhury and writer Golam Murshid have been named for the award.

Motahar Hossain Talukder, Shamsul Haque and Afsar Uddin Ahmed were named posthumously for their contributions to the language movement.

Meanwhile, Begum Papia Sarwar has been named for music, Raisul Islam Asad and Salma Begum Sujata (Sujata Azim) for acting, Ahmed Iqbal Haidar for plays, Syed Salahuddin Zaki for film, Bhashwar Bandopahdyay for recitation and Pavel Rahman for photography.

Besides, Golam Hasnayen, Fazlur Rahman Khan Faruk and freedom fighter Syeda Isabela (posthumous) have been chosen for their contributions to the Liberation War.

Ajay Das Gupta won the award in the field of journalism, Dr Ashim Kumar Saha in research, Begum Mahfuza Khanam in education, Dr Mirza Abdul Jalil in economics and Professor Kazi Kamruzzamn in social service.

The Ekushey Padak is the second highest civilian award in Bangladesh, introduced in memory of the martyrs of the Language Movement of 1952. The award carries a gold medal, a certificate of honour and cash.

The government on July 20, 2020 sought nomination proposals for the award from all ministries, different departments, deputy commissioners, public university authorities and recipients of Swadhinata Padak and Ekushey Padak by October 15, 2020.

The prize is given in several categories, including the Language Movement, shilpakala (music, dance, acting and fine arts), the Liberation War, journalism, research, education, science and technology, economics, social service, politics and language and literature.