13 art personalities conferred Lalit Kala Ratna awards

New Delhi, Sep 10 (UNI) Thirteen eminent art personalities were today honoured with the Lalit Kala Ratna awards at a function this evening.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee conferred the awards to the luminaries.

Those who were honoured by the Lok Sabha Speaker include Bal Chhabda (Maharashtra), B N Arya (UP), Devi Prasad (New Delhi), Dinkar Kowshik (West Bengal), K Rajaiah (AP), Kekoo Gandhy (Mumbai), Krishna Reddy (New York), L Munuswamy (Tamil Nadu), Laxman Pai (Delhi), M V Krishnan (Kerala), Piraji Sagara (Gujarat), P N Choyal (Rajasthan) and Sobha Brahma (Assam).

A portfolio containing the works of the honoured artists was also released by the Lalit Kala Akademi (National Academy of Art), on the occasion.

A flute recital by Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia was presented on the occasion.

Minister for Culture and Tourism Ambika Soni presided over the function, which was also attended by eminent artists, academicians and theatre personalities.

UNI