🗞️ Why in News President Droupadi Murmu conferred the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship (Akademi Ratna) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar), along with the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar, for the years 2024 and 2025, on 115 artists at a special investiture ceremony at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
Background
The Sangeet Natak Akademi, established in 1952, is India’s national academy for music, dance and drama, and is the oldest of India’s three national culture academies, alongside the Sahitya Akademi (literature) and the Lalit Kala Akademi (visual arts), functioning under the Ministry of Culture. The Akademi Ratna Fellowship carries a cash award of Rs 3 lakh, while the Akademi Puraskar carries Rs 1 lakh along with a Tamrapatra and Angavastram.
This Year’s Fellows
Seven artists received the Akademi Ratna Fellowship this cycle: Ramlal Bareth, A.V. Anand, Rita Ganguly, Puru Dadheech, Chittaranjan Jyotishi, Pasumarthi Rattaiah Sarma, and Sudharani Raghupathy, spanning folk, classical dance and vocal traditions.
UPSC Relevance
The Sangeet Natak Akademi’s institutional architecture, alongside its sister academies, functions as a mechanism of state patronage for performing arts, preserving both classical and folk/tribal traditions, and is a recurring Prelims and Mains reference point for questions on India’s cultural institutions and soft-power instruments.
📌 Facts Corner, Knowledgepedia
Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards 2024-2025:
- Sangeet Natak Akademi established: 1952; nodal ministry: Ministry of Culture
- Sister academies: Sahitya Akademi (literature), Lalit Kala Akademi (visual arts)
- Akademi Ratna (Fellowship): Rs 3 lakh; Akademi Puraskar: Rs 1 lakh + Tamrapatra & Angavastram
- Total honoured this cycle: 115 artists; 7 Akademi Ratna Fellows
- Venue: Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi
Other Relevant Facts:
- A youth-specific award, the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar, was also conferred in the same ceremony
Sources: Ministry of Culture, PIB
Source: President Murmu Confers Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards 2024-2025 on 115 Artists — Ujiyari.com | Free UPSC & State PCS Current Affairs
