Chhattisgarh announces Rajyotsav awards

Raipur, Oct 31 (UNI) The Chhattisgarh government today announced 17 state-level awards, for outstanding performance in different fields, on the seventh anniversary of the state's formation.

''President A P J Abdul Kalam would confer these awards at the valedictory programme of the seven-day 'Rajyotsav' celebrations on November 7,'' Culture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal told reporters here this evening.

The Shaheed Veer Narayan Samman for uplift of tribals and backward classes welfare would be bestowed on Mangal Singh Nagdev and to Bastar's Godi Vidyapeeth.

The Yati Yatanlal Samman for non-violence and cow protection would be conferred on the Agrasen Gosewa Sadan, Ambikapur, and Dr Chandra Kumar Jain. Similarly, the Gondadhur Samman for sports will be shared by Preeti Banchor (netball) and Reena Sahu (judo) while the Mini Mata Samman for women's uplift will go to Shyamsad Begum.

The Guru Ghasidas Samman for social awareness and social justice would be shared by Mr Domanlal Kosewada and Diwan Chandra Sonwani while the Thakur Pyarelal Singh Samman in cooperatives would be conferred on Ms Smita Joshi on behalf of the Mahila Nagrik Sahakari Bank, Durg.

The Haji Hassan Ali Samman for Urdu would be bestowed on Kavish Haidari and Maulana Mohammad Ali Farooqui, both from the state capital. The Pandit Ravishankar Shukla Samman for outstanding contribution to socio-economy and education would be conferred on Mr Hasan Khan and Dr Dinesh Mishra.

The Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Samman for literature and the Chakradhar Samman would be conferred on Mr Daneshwar Sharma and Pandit Ramlal respectively.

Govind Nirmalkar will receive the Dau Mandarji Samman for folk artists while Mr Bharat Khetrapal and Mr Raghevendra Singh Chandel would be conferred the Dr Khoobchand Baghel Award for agriculture.

The Maharaja Agrasen Samman for social harmony would be bestowed on the Astha Multipurpose Welfare Sansthan, Bhilai.

The Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Fellowship for Journalism has been awarded to Mr Shireesh Chandra Mishra (Univarta) and Mr Sanjay Dixit (Democratic world).

The Dhanwantari Samman for development of Ayurveda will be conferred on Dr Sachidanand Upadhyaya while the Bilasa Bai Samman for fisheries development would be bestowed on Mr Atmaram Dhimar, president of the Fisheries Cooperative Society, Dhamtari.

Similarly, the Chhattisgarh Non-Resident Indian Samman would be conferred on Mr Devendra Narayan Shukla from the US.

UNI JJ AC 2101