KATHMANDU: The government has honored the writers contributing to Nepali literature by presenting them with various national and province-level awards.

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation honored the litterateurs organizing an award distribution program today.

Culture Minister Yogesh Kumar Bhattarai honored the awardee litterateurs and personalities by handing them the awards.

The awards conferred on the occasion include the Pushpalal National Award 2076, the Mahakabi Devkota National Award 2076, the Bhagat Sarbajeet Manav Maryada Nationl Award 2076, the Gopal Prasad Rimal National Award 2076.

Addressing the award distribution program, Minister Bhattarai said the various litterati have been awarded in recognition to their contribution.

He said the Nepali literature is rich and it is a fountain of creativity due to its legacy established by the sages, its reflection of the country’s natural beauty and due to its drawing from the ideal principles given by lord Buddha and several other learned persons.

The Culture Minister also said that a national museum with a collection of the culture, tradition, language and literature of all castes and ethnicities would be set up at Kirtipur of Kathmandu.

He shared that a memorial dedicated to various national personalities from the unifier of Nepal, Prithvi Narayan Shah, to others as leaders who played significant role in the several democratic movements of the country, litterateurs and artists would be set up.

The awardees

Buddhi Narayan Shrestha was conferred with the National Talent Award towards culture genre while Chandra Kumar Rai of Bhojpur from State-1, Dr Ram Sagar Pandit of Dhanusha from State-2, Dr Gautim Bir Bajracharya of Lalitpur from Bagmati State, Prof Gyan Bahadur Karki of Syangja from the Gandaki State, Bikram Mani Tripathi of Kapilbastu from State-5, Basudev Upadhayay of Jumla from Karnali State and Surat Bahadur Shah of Dhangadhi from the Sudur Pachim State have been honored with the Province Talent Award under the National and Province level Talent Award 2076.

Likewise, towards the language and literature genre, Prof Dr Dayaram Shrestha has been conferred with the National Talent Award while Shyam Lal Shrestha of Kathmandu has received National Talent Award under Fine Arts category. Jeevannath Pokharel of Sunsari from State-1, Saritadevi Mandal of Dhanusha from State-2, Chandra Shyam Dangol of Lalitpur from Bagmati state, Mahesh Acharya of Syangja from Gandaki state, Sumitra rana of Gulmi from State 5, Bhim Bahadur Singh of Kalikot from Karnali state and Rabindra Bahadur Chand of Doti from Sudurpaschim state have been honored from Provincial Talent Award.

Similarly, Satya Narayan Chaudhary of Siraha has received National Talent Award under Music and Drama category. Bharat Gurung of Taplejung from State 1, Hira Kumarui Darlami of Mahottari from State-2, Keshar Kalikote of ramechhap from Bagmati state, Man Kumar Shrestha of Tanahun from Gandaki state, Laxmi Neupane of Palpa from State-5, Kriparam Sharma of Kalikot from Karnali state and Manoharram Damai of Baitadi from Sudurpaschim state have been honored with Provincial Talent Award.

Likewise, Mahakabi Devkota Award -2076 has been conferred on Mohan Sitaula of Terhathum, Prof Keshav Subedi of Dang, Padmawati Singh of Kathmandu, Dr Madhusudan Giri of Dailekh and Bhairab Risal of Bhaktapur.
Abhi Subedi of Terhathum and Prof Ghanshyam Upadhyay Kandel of Dhading have received Gopal Prasad Rimal National Award-2076.

Snehalata Guruwacharya Ban Shrestha of Lalitpur, Dr Madhav Raj Panti of Kapilvastu and National Innovation Centre of Kathmandu have been awarded with Pushpalal National Award-2076.

Similarly, Society Improvement Campaign under Bhagat Sarbajeet Manab Maryada National Award-2076 has been conferred on Nabaraj BK of Jajarkot (posthumously), while Tribhuvan Chandra Wagle of Tanahun and Tilak Pariyar of Banke have been honored with Human Rights award and Skill, Art, Literature, and Research award respectively.

All the awards under national and institutional category carry a purse of Rs 100,000 while the award under provincial level is Rs 50,000, according to the Ministry. RSS