54 eminent persons med for UP's 'Yash Bharti' awards

Lucknow, Oct 23: The Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday med 54 persons for the coveted ‘Yash Bharti’ awards, given away annually by the state, for the year 2016-17. Among those who have made it to the list are Ustad Gulfaam (Classical music), Soni Chaurasiya (Kathak), Kashith Yadav (Birha singing), Aaftab and Hashmi of the Sabri brothers (Qawwali) and Keval Kumar (Singing and music direction). Others include Aslam Warsi (Sufi singing), Anupma Rag (Writing and film direction), Suman Yadav (Sports), Swaroop Kumari Bakshi (Literature) and Mohd Basheer Badra (Education). Cricketer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Begum Habibullah, ‘Waterman’ Rajendra Singh and Sarvesh Astha (Writer) have also made it to the list. Yash Bharti is a coveted award of Uttar Pradesh and is given to eminent people from various walks of life. It carries a citation, a shawl and a cash award of Rs 11 lakh. Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav will give away the awards on October 27. (IANS)