New Delhi, April 20 2009: Aribam Syam Sharma, renowned film maker from Manipur has been selected for the prestigious Kamal Kumari National Awards for the year 2007.The Selection Committee of the Kamal Kumari Foundation, a charitable trust of Assam, selected him for the award in the category of Art, culture and Literature.

Syam Sharma is the second Manipuri to receive the Award after Maharaj Kumari Binodini Devi who received the Award for the year 2002 in Art, Culture and Literature category.

The Foundation on Sunday announced the name of the recipients of the Kamal Kumari National Awards for the two categories: Science and Technology and Art, Culture and Literature for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008.The recipients for Science and Technology were respectively Prof Dhirendra Nath Burhagohain, Chief Technology Officer, Civil Engineering Network System, Pune, Prof Maqsood Siddiqi, Chief, Cancer Foundation of India, Kolkata, and Prof Bhupendra Nath Goswami, Director, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune.For the category of Art, Culture and Literature the selection committee chose Hemanta Mishra, noted artist, Aribam Shyam Sharma, renowned film maker, and Rama Kanta Rath, noted poet and former Chairman, Sahitya Akademi.The Foundation also announced the names of the recipients of the Siva Prasad Barooah National Award for Journalism for the last three years: Prafulla Chandra Barua, Executive Trustee, Media Trust, Assam, Patricia Mukhim, Editor, Shillong Times, Shillong Amab Goswami, Editor-in-Chief, Times Now.The above awards will be formally given away at a ceremony to be held at Guwahati, in June 2009.The awards consist of a citation, a memento and a cheque of Rs 2 lakh each.The Kamal Kumari Foundation, set up in memory of Kamal Kumari Barooah, the remarkable matriarch of the Khongiya Barooah family of Thengal, has achieved acclaim and renown for its charitable and constructive activities in the eastern region of the country.

The Foundation has restored Namghars and Satriya Cultural Centres in various parts of Assam, built and renovated public facilities, sponsored meritorious students in national institutions of repute, instituted scholarships for handicapped and needy students, offered medical aid to the needy and financially assisted publication of rare Assamese literary works.

With the objective of promoting excellence in the field of Science & Technology, Culture and Journalism, the Foundation confers annually three National Awards.

The Foundation has also donated the full cost of publication of the volume "150 years of Journalism in Assam" brought out by the Celebration Committee of 150 years of Journalism in Assam.In a bid to promote excellence in the fields of science and technology, as also cultural pursuits, the Kamal Kumari National Awards were instituted in 1990 by the Kamal Kumari Foundation.

The Award for Culture is given to individuals and groups in India for outstanding contribution to Literature, Education, Fine Arts and Performing Arts.

Recipients of the Kamal Kumari National Award for Culture so far have been Sobha Brahma, Sankha Ghosh, Nilmani Phookan, Sisir Kumar Das, Mamoni Roisom Goswami, Amita Malik, Achyut Lahkar, Navakanta Barua, Maharaj Kumari Binodini Devi & Jahnu Barua.

The Award for Science and Technology is given to individuals or groups for outstanding contribution in the fields of Science and Technology.

The recipients for the Kamal Kumari National Award for Science and Technology so far have been C..NR..Rao, S.P.Thyagarajan, Sarbeswar Bujarbarua, Dilip Kumar Choudhury, T.S.R.Prasada Rao, Lakshmidhar Satpathy, R.A.Mashelkar, Vibha Dhawan, Samir Bhattacharya & Jitendra Nath Goswami.In 1999 the Foundation instituted the Siva Prasad Barooah National Award for journalism to promote news-media excellence.

The first recipient of this Award was the Assam Tribune, the oldest and outstanding English newspaper in the North-East and subsequently Sanjoy Hazarika, Dhirendra Nath Bezboruah, Teesta Setalvad & Prannoy Roy.So far about fifty luminaries of the country in their respective fields of excellence have received this award.

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