New Delhi: President of India Droupadi Murmu conferred Padma Shri to Sarbeswar Basumatary in the field of Others (Agriculture) and Drona Bhuyan in field of Art from Assam in the Civil Investiture Ceremony in New Delhi today, taking the number of total recipients from the Northeast to five.
During the esteemed Civil Investiture Ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the President also honoured Yanung Jamoh Lego of Arunachal Pradesh, Smriti Rekha Chakma of Tripura and Machihan Sasa of Manipur.
Sarbeswar Basumatary is a distinguished farmer currently serving as the member of Advisory Board of Fishery Department of Chirang District, Assam. He is also member of Krishi Vigyan Kendra and Sericulture of Chirang District. Since 2017, he is working as promoter in Bordosila Farmer Producer Company Limited. Born on 8thApril, 1962 Basumatary received education upto 5th Standard at Bagidwara L.P. School. At 13 years of age, he went to Bokakhat, Dhansrimukh and worked as a ploughman. In 1984, he came back to Chiponsila and started cultivation. Later, he shifted to Bhutiapara, and began to cultivate land belonging to landlords. Basumatary bought a piece of land in 1995-96 and in 1996, underwent a training on agriculture at Bijni Sub-Divisional Agriculture Office. With their suggestions and guidance, Basumatary as the President of Panbari Banana Growers’ Society, implemented many schemes and grew Banana, Orange and Pineapple with a satisfactory production. In 2007 he obtained training in fish farming. He visited Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal and abroad. He also obtained training on Horticulture from Kalyani University, Kolkata.
Basumatary is the recipient of numerous awards and honours. He got Award of Excellence in Sericulture by Central Silk Board, Bengaluru, Ministry of Textiles in 2015. He was also conferred the Assam Gaurav by the Assam government in 2022-23 and Best Farmer Award by Assam Agriculture University in 2022.
The other recipient, Drona Bhuyan, is a great exponent of folk culture ‘Suknani Ojapali’ and ‘Deodhani dance’.Born on January 1, 1956, in the village Satgharia of Sipajhar in the district of Darrang, in a poor family, Bhuyan spent his life in struggle. Due to lack of money, he only received primary education. He was interested more towards the Suknani Sangeet and Deodhani Dance. When he was only 7-8 years old, he started moving around with his father for preparing “Jatra Party”. He acted in different dramas like ‘Village Girl’, ‘Chandra Hangsa’, ‘Lalasar Balley’ etc. His father sent him to Ratneswar Bora – an ‘Oja’ of ‘Suknani Ojapali’- for learning, it was here he was attached with Ojapali Culture. He started practicing Ojapali under the leadership of Late Chandra Kanta Nath Oja, who was also a prominent leader.
Bhuyan performed Suknani Ojapali and Deodhani Dance in the Pragati field of Delhi in 1972. He is expert in performing Drum. Today Bhuyan is a successful leader of Suknani Sangeet and Deodhani Dance and contributed signifuicantly for the improvement of the performing art of Darrang District. As a regular artist of All India Radio Guwahati and Sangeet Natak Academy, he took part in the workshops of performing art not only in Assam but also in the National School of Drama, Delhi, Guwahati, Dibrugarh and Tezpur Central University. He got the title of the “GURU” of traditional plan relating Guru and Sishya. He performed Suknani Sangeet in various festivals and social organization like Naamghar, Sangha, Educational Institutions etc. He also established a training center in his own residence named “Traditional Performing Art Centre”in 2009 to train interested artists.
Bhuyan has received many awards. Some of the awards are “Guru Tile” from Ministry of Culturein 2009, “Meera Award 2012” organized by Rastriya Natya and Loka Kala Mahotsav in Agra, “Ek Kalin Bota 2019” and “Bishnu Rabha Bota 2021” by Cultural Affairs, Assam, Rabindra Bhawan, Guwahati and Assam Gaurav 2023. (PIB)
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