Scindia honours six Northeast achievers with Bhupen Hazarika National Awards

Guwahati, Nov 4: “Dr Bhupen Hazarika used his music not only to give the human spirit a capability like that of the mighty Brahmaputra to find its course again, but also to tell the story of India as a shared soul. He used the power of art in various ways to heal, to bridge, and to bind,” Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister for Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), said on Monday.

Giving away the Bharat Ratna Dr Bhupen Hazarika National Awards to six distinguished personalities of the Northeast, Scindia paid rich tributes to Bhupen Hazarika on the occasion of his birth centenary year and said that Dr Hazarika was able to string the people, the cultures, the music and traditions of India as pearls into a necklace.

“He did this by using music as a power to give the human spirit the capability, like the mighty Brahmaputra, to find its course again,” he said. Scindia also pointed out that Bhupen Hazarika utilised various tools of mass communication to chronicle every aspect of India’s history, through his lyrics, music, films, and writings.

The awards to mark Bhupen Hazarika’s birth centenary were handed over six personalities of the Northeast working in different fields including Laishram Mema Devi, renowned classical singer from Manipur; LR Sailo, veteran Public Relations and media practitioner from Mizoram; Yeshe Dorje Thongchi, eminent writer and storyteller from Arunachal Pradesh; Prof David R. Syiemlieh, distinguished historian and former chairman of the UPSC from Meghalaya; Dr Surjya Kanta Hazarika, author and cultural curator and Rajni Basumatary actress and filmmaker.

The award comprises a cash prize of Rs 51,000, a citation, a memento, a shawl from Maharashtra and gamosa. It is conferred annually to individuals from the Northeast who achieved distinction in various fields at the national level.

The Bharat Ratna Dr Bhupen Hazarika National Award was instituted in 2012 by Sarhad, a Pune-based social, cultural, and educational organisation that has been working for over three decades in India’s border regions, particularly in strife-torn states like Assam, Manipur, Punjab, and Kashmir.

The event which was presided over by senior journalist and Nagaland University Chancellor Dr Samudra Gupta Kashyap was attended by North Eastern Council (NEC) secretary Satinder Bhalla, Bhupen Hazarika’s youngest brother Samar Hazarika, Dr. Shailesh Pagariya and Swaraj Pagariya from Arham Foundation Pune, Zahid Bhatt and Prerna Nahar, coordinators from Sarhad Pune, Prof Alaka Sarma (Akshar Foundation) and several other eminent citizens of Guwahati.

Introducing Sarhad and the awards, Anuj Nahar, a trustee of Sarhad, spoke about the organisation’s association with Bhupen Hazarika, particularly during the last few years of his life, as well as about various projects undertaken by it in the Northeast.

He also announced that Sarhad would soon set up the Late Smt Jamnabai Firodia Northeast India Bhawan, Pune, for the rehabilitation and education of girls’ students from violence-affected areas of Northeast, apart from a Bhupen Hazarika studio for music and culture and Srimanta Sankaradeva Namghar at Pune.

By Staff Reporter