Ekushey Padak-2021, the second highest state award in Bangladesh, has been handed over to 21 eminent citizens of the country for their outstanding contributions to their respective fields.
On behalf of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Liberation War Affairs minister AKM Mozammel Huque handed over the awards to them at a programme held at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital on Saturday morning.
The premier virtually joined the award-giving ceremony from her official Ganabhaban residence.
The awardees were: Motahar Hossain Talukder (posthumous), Shamsul Huque (posthumous) and Advocate Afsar Uddin Ahmed (posthumous) for their roles in the Language Movement.
Begum Papia Sarwar in Music, Raisul Islam Asad and Salma Begum Sujata in Acting, Ahmed Iqbal Haidar in Drama and Syed Salahuddin Zaki in Film, Dr Bhaskar Bandopadhay in Recitation and Pavel Rahman in Photography.
Golam Hasnayen, Fazlur Rahman Khan Faruk and Syeda Isabela (posthumous) will get the award for their contributions to the Liberation War, while Ajay Dasgupta for his contributions to Journalism, Prof Dr Samir Kumar Saha for Research, Mahfuza Khanam for Education, Dr Mirza Abdul Jalil for Economics and Prof Kazi Kamruzzaman for Social Services and Poet Kazi Rosy, Bulbul Chowdhury and Golam Murshid for their contributions to Language and Literature.
Earlier on Friday, President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages on the occasion of awarding the Ekushey Padak this year.
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