Ramath literary awards to Deka, Hajra

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, March 6: The prestigious Ramath Bhattacharya Foundation Literary Awards, 2015 in memory of Padmath Vidyabinod and Ramath Biswas will be given away to Assamese poet Harekrish Deka and Bengali poet Ratneshwar Hajra of Kolkata respectively.

This was announced at a press meet at Guwahati Press Club today by foundation general secretary Shyamashis Bhattacharya. Each of the two awards carries a cash prize of Rs 51,000, a citation, a memento and a specially designed Muga scarf.

Bhattacharya, a Mumbai-based Hindi TV serial producer, said the awards would be presented to poet Deka and poet Hajra at a function to be held at 5 p.m. on March 13 at Vivekanda Kendra Auditorium, Guwahati where the Pandit Padmath Vidyabinod memorial lecture and the Bhuparjatak (globe-trotter) Ramath Biswas memorial lecture will also be delivered by eminent Assamese intellectual Prasenjit Choudhury and Srimati Sumita Chakraborty of Kolkata respectively. A souvenir will be released on the occasion by writer Srimati Anima Guha, Bhattacharya added.

Bhattacharya said the decision of the foundation to award literary prizes to an Assamese poet and a Bengali poet in memory of the illustrious ancestors of Foundation’s Trustee-President Ramath Bhattacharya, who is an established poet, was announced six years ago, and awards for the year 2010 were presented to Assamese poet Ajit Barua and Bengali poet Bijit Kumar Bhattacharya on March 13, 2011. The awards for the year 2011 were presented to Assamese poet Hiren Bhattacharya and Bengali poet Pabitra Mukhopadhyay on March 15, 2012. The awards for 2012 were presented to Assamese poet Nilamoni Phukan and Bengali poet Tarun Sanyal on March 17, 2013. The awards for the year 2013 were presented to Assamese poet Hirendra th Dutta and Bengali poet Swapan Sengupta on March 9, 2014. The awards for the year 2014 were presented to Assamese poet Bhaben Barua and Bengali poet Shyamalkanti Das on March 14, 2015.