Staff Reporter :
Twenty one eminent personalities will receive the country’s second-highest civilian award, Ekushey Padak-2021, in recognition of their contributions to various fields on Saturday.
The prestigious award will be handed over to them at a programme to be held at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will join the event as chief guest virtually from her official residence Ganabgaban.
Earlier on February 4, the government announced names of 21 distinguished citizens who
will receive the awards for their outstanding contributions in their respective fields.
Four of them named posthumously for the prestigious annual award. Of the awardees, three are language movement veterans.
Under the language and literature category, poet Quazi Rosy, Bulbul Chowdhury and writer Golam Murshid have been named for the award.
Motahar Hossain Talukder, Shamsul Haque and Afsar Uddin Ahmed were named posthumously for their contributions to the Language Movement, while Begum Papia Sarwar has been named for music, Raisul Islam Asad and Salma Begum Sujata (Sujata Azim) for acting, Ahmed Iqbal Haidar for plays, Syed Salahuddin Zaki for film, Bhashwar Bandopahdyay for recitation and Pavel Rahman for photography.
Besides, Golam Hasnayen, Fazlur Rahman Khan Faruk, Freedom Fighter Syeda Isabela (posthumous) have been chosen for their contributions to the Liberation War.
Ajay Das Gupta won the award in the field of journalism, Dr Ashim Kumar Saha in research, Begum Mahfuza Khanam in education, Dr Mirza Abdul Jalil in economics and Professor Kazi Kamruzzamn in social service.
