President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday conferred the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony on Manipuri dancer-choreographer, Rajkumar Singhajit Singh, Bangladeshi cultural organisation, Chhayanaut, and sculptor Ram Vanji Sutar for the years 2014, 2015 and 2016.

The award was instituted in 2012 as part of the commemoration of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary.

Kovind called Singh one of the greatest exponents of Manipuri dance. “He has bridged this age-old art form of Manipur with not only modern sensibilities but with other parts of the country.” Kovind added Chhayanaut has promoted and preserved Tagore’s works and philosophy in Bangladesh. He said Sutar represents an art tradition that goes back thousands of years. “These days he is most well-known for the Statue of Unity,” he said, referring to the statue of the country’s first Union home minister, Vallabhbhai Patel.

A PM Narendra Modi-led committee selected the awardees, who received ₹1 crore, a plaque and a handicraft item each.

“The award is a celebration of Indian traditions of culture and of our civilizational wealth – whether in literature or music, art or drama, sculpture or handicrafts, design or digital art. Each region in our country has a distinct cultural identity. Yet, in its essence, culture does not divide. It unites and harmonises all of India and all of humanity,” Kovind said. “Gurudev Tagore is remembered every day as a poet who gave India its national anthem. He belongs to the entire world as he was a nationalist as well as an internationalist.”

Modi congratulated the awardees and said: “Gurudev is respected internationally. In view of the conditions which prevail in the world today, it has become even more relevant to propagate the message of harmony and peace of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore.

First Published: Feb 18, 2019 23:48 IST