Twenty-one notable individuals have received Ekushey Padak this year, the second-highest honour a civilian can achieve in Bangladesh. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as the chief guest virtually presented the honour at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in Dhaka on Saturday.
The awardees received this honour for their outstanding contributions to their respected fields.
The awardees are: Motahar Hossain Talukdar (posthumous), Shamsul Haque (posthumous) and Advocate Afsar Uddin Ahmed (posthumous) for their roles in the Language Movement.
Begum Papia Sarowar in music, Raisul Islam Asad and Salma Begum Sujata in arts, Ahmed Iqbal Haidar in drama and Syed Salahuddin Zaki in film, Dr Bhaskar Bandopandhay in recitation and Pavel Rahman for photography.
Golam Hasnayen, Fazlur Rahman Khan Faruk and Syeda Issabela (posthumous) got the award for their contributions to the War of Liberation while Ajay Dasgupta for his contributions to journalism, Professor Dr Samir Kumar Saha for research, Mahfuza Khanam for education, Dr Mirza Abdul Jalil for economics and Professor Kazi Kamruzzaman for social service and Poet Kazi Rozy, Bulbul Chowdhury and Golam Murshid for their contributions to language and literature.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and President Abdul Hamid wished success of the event in separated massages marking awarding the Ekushey Padak, 2021.
On behalf of the Prime Minister, Liberation Affairs Minister A K M Mozammel Haque handed over the awards among the winners.
With State Minister for Cultural Affairs K M Khalid, MP, in the chair, Secretary of the ministry M Badrul Arefin delivered welcome address.
Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam conducted the award-giving ceremony and read out the citations of the awardees, organized by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.
Cabinet members, PM’s advisors, judges, parliament members, the chiefs of three armed forces, foreign diplomats, litterateurs, poets, academics, writers, journalists, Ekushey Award laureates of previous years and high civil and military officials attended the function.
