5 Assam Artists Among 82 Conferred with Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar

Five distinguished artists from Assam were among the 82 young talents conferred with the prestigious Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar 2022-23 on Friday, recognizing their outstanding contributions to various performing art forms.

The Assam awardees include Meghranjani Medhi for Kathak, Dimpi Baisya for Sattriya, Mukunda Saikia Barbayan for Sattriya, Mukunda Nath for Mime, and Binita Devi for Puppetry. These artists have been acknowledged for their excellence and dedication to preserving and promoting traditional art forms.

The award ceremony organized in New Delhi was presided over by Sandhya Purecha, Chairman, Sangeet Natak Akademi; Uma Nanduri, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar

Sangeet Natak Akademi instituted the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar (UBKUP) in the name of Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan for young performing art practitioners upto the age of 40 years in 2006. The Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar is given annually to outstanding young artistes under the age of 40 in the fields of music, dance, drama, folk and tribal arts and puppetry to encourage and motivate artistes across as many as 40 performing art forms of the country.  

The Yuva Puraskar carries a purse money of Rs 25,000, a plaque and an angavastram.
The reason behind instituting the award was to encourage and motivate the young artists in the field of music, dance, drama, folk and tribal art forms and other allied performing art forms of the country.