A YOUNG poet from Manipur affected by the Parkinson’s Disease, a Koodiyattam practitioner and a young journalist working on education awareness are in a list of winners who will be awarded the Sanskriti Awards on November 26 this year.
Ten young talents in the fields of literature, journalism, art, performing arts and social and cultural achievement were selected for the Sanskriti Award 2010 on Monday.
Marking the 31st year of the awards, human resource and development minister Kapil Sibal would give away the prizes on November 26 to young achievers between the ages of 25-35. Those chosen for the award are Thoudam Netrajit Singh for literature, Anahita Mukherji for journalism, Prajakta Potnis for art, Kapila Venu for dance and Street Survivors India for social achievement. Each award carries `50,000 in cash.
While talking to the media, O.P. Jain, president of the Sanskriti Pratishthan, said: “The awards recognise young talent in the field of journalism, art, literature, performing arts and social achievement in the capital.” He added: “The 31st edition of the awards will recognise the recipients for excellence in their respective fields. The five winners will accept the awards — comprising a cash prize of `50,000 and a citation — from Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal at a ceremony to be held at the India International Centre.
The winners for this year’s Sanskriti award for literature, Thoudam Netrajit Singh, who was born in 1975, is a well-known poet in his native place, Manipur. After finishing school in 1993 from Salam village, Singh was not able to pursue further education after being affected by Parkinson’s. Despite the disease, Netrajit wrote on the emotional integrity of his people using poetry and short stories as modes of expression.
While Anahita Mukherjee, a Mumbai-based journalist who will also receive an award on November 26, has been writing and working on the stark inequality in the education system and the ever-expanding gap between the educational institutions for the rich and the poor, apart from focusing on the lack of social integration in Mumbai’s elite schools.
Prajakta Potnis, 30, who will receive the award for her work in the field of arts, is an artist involved in paintings, site-specific and sculptural installations and photography. This year, her work On the Road to the Next Milestone was part of the Indian Highway Exhibition featured at the Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark, and the Astrup Fearnley Museum, Norway.
Kapila Venu, who will receive the award for her work in dance, is the director of Natanakairali and a renowned practitioner of Koodiyattam. She started her training at the age of seven under the late Guru Ammannur Madhava Chakyar. She has travelled both as a solo artist and with the Koodiyattam ensemble (Natanakairali and Ammannur Chachu Chakyar Smaraka Gurukulam) performing at venues in India and abroad.
The Sanskriti award for social achievement will be received by the Street Survivors India (SSI), an NGO operational in the Murshidabad area of West Bengal. The SSI will be receiving the award for creating an informal arbitration court and justice delivery system at the local Block level in Murshidabad, covering some 264 villages.