Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina distributed prestigious Ekushey Padak, the country’s second highest civilian award, to 21 eminent personalities for their outstanding contributions to various fields.

The prestigious award is handed over to the recipients at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital on Saturday (February 20).

On behalf of the Prime Minister, Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque handed over the Ekushey Padak among the recipients. The premier joined the programme virtually from her official residence Ganobhaban.

The Ministry of Cultural Affairs organised the programme at Osmani Memorial Auditorium.

Motahar Hossain Talukdar (posthumous), Shamsul Haque (posthumous), and Advocate Afsar Uddin Ahmed (posthumous) have been recognised for their roles in the Language Movement.

Begum Papia Sarowar has been recognised for her contributions to music while Raisul Islam Asad and Salma Begum Sujata for performing art, Ahmed Iqbal Haidar for drama, and Syed Salahuddin Zaki for film.

Dr Bhaskar Bandopandhay has been recognised for his contributions to recitation, Pavel Rahman for photography and Golam Hasnayen, Fazlur Rahman Khan Faruk, Syeda Issabela (posthumous) for their contributions to the Liberation War.

Ajay Dasgupta has been recognised for his contributions to journalism, Prof Dr Samir Kumar Saha for research, Mahfuza Khanam for education, Dr Mirza Abdul Jalil for economics, and Prof Kazi Kamruzzaman for social service.

Kazi Rozy, Bulbul Chowdhury and Golam Murshid have been recognised for their contributions to language and literature.

Each recipient received a gold medal, a certificate of honour and cash worth Tk 4 lakh.

The ‘Ekushey Padak’ is the second highest civilian award in Bangladesh, introduced in memory of the martyrs of the Bengali Language Movement of 1952.

The award is given in such categories as the Language Movement, Shilpakala (music, dance, acting and fine arts), Liberation War, journalism, research, education, science and technology, economics, social service, politics, language and literature, et cetera.