51 artistes honoured with Sangeet Natak Akademi awards

Lucknow: Around 51 artistes from music, dance, theatre and folk arts were honoured with Sangeet Natak Akademi awards at Lok Bhawan on Friday. Artistes selected for the years 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 were felicitated at the ceremony.

Deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak was chief guest on the occasion and gave away the awards. He also read out the message of governor Anandiben Patel, who was not present. In her message, the governor said that in an era of modernity and technological revolution, it is necessary to honour those practitioners and artistes who, through discipline and dedication, are keeping these traditions alive.

For 2021, Manoj Kumar Mishra of Rewa in Madhya Pradesh was honoured with the Safdar Hashmi Award and Satish Anand of Delhi received the BM Shah Award for 2021. For 2022, Rajesh Singh of New Delhi got the Safdar Hashmi Award and Kamal Jain of Bhopal the BM Shah Award. The Safdar Hashmi Award for 2023 was given to Ajay Kumar of Ghaziabad and the BM Shah Award to Ravishankar Khare of Gorakhpur. The Safdar Hashmi Award for 2024 was given to Shubhdeep Raha of Lucknow and the BM Shah Award to Sanjay Mehta of Bhopal.