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State Council of Culture reconstituted

BHUBANESWAR: The Government has reconstituted the State Council of Culture after a gap of 13 years. It has further resolved to reintroduce the prestigious Konark Samman that was also discontinued since 2000.

Sources in the Directorate of Culture said the coveted honour was instituted in 1990 as Orissa’s highest honour for eminent personalities of the nation from the fields of dance, drama, music, literature, visual art and social service. Stalwarts like M.S.Subbulakshmi, Hariprasad Chaurasia, B.V.Karanth and B.C.Sanyal were the recipients of this honour that carried a silver replica of the wheel of the Sun temple of Konark, a citation and a cash award of Rs.50, 000. The Governor used to present the Samman at a special ceremony held at the Raj Bhawan.

The tradition was discontinued due to financial constraints, the sources said.

The newly constituted Council that met here on Monday, resolved to select the recipients of the Konark Saman for the years 2006 and 2007.

It further decided to choose six personalities of the State from the fields of poetry, novel, drama, dance, music and visual art to confer Governor’s trophies with a cash award of Rs.25, 000 each.

While the Culture Minister has been the chairperson of the revamped State Council of Culture, the Union Culture Secretary, State Culture and Textiles Commissioners, presidents of the three Akademis of the state - Sahitya, Lalit Kala and Sangeet Natak - directors of the National School of Drama, National Book Trust, Orissa Bhasa Pratisthan and Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre have been its ex-officio members, it was learnt.

Six eminent personalities from different streams of culture who have also been the Akademi awardees have been included in the Council.

They are: Sitakant Mohapatra, Jatin Das, Sarat Pujari, Dinanath Pathy, Maguni Charan Kuanr and Sudarsan Acharya.

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