Agency

The government has decided to honour nine people with Ekushey Award 2008. Six of the awards will be given posthumously. The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, has approved the recommendations of the advisory council committee on national awards to honour the nine with the award, a government official said. The chief adviser will distribute the awards on February 20.

Professor Muzaffer Ahmad, chairman of the Transparency International Bangladesh board of trustees, social scientist Najma Chowdhury and music director Khandaker Nurul Alam will be among the recipients of the award this year.

The six be awarded posthumously are

• Dr Zohra Begum Kazi, the first woman in South Asia to receive an MBBS degree,
• Journalist and Tagore singer Waheedul Huq,
• Poet Dilwar Hossain Khan of Moulvibazar,
• Language movement hero Khaleque Newaj of Mymensingh and
  
• Folk singers Shyamsundar Baishnaba and Shefali Ghosh of Chittagong.

Diverse organisations, forums and individuals submitted 81 names as the government sought names who could be awarded Ekushey Award. A four-member scrutiny committee, led by former cultural affairs adviser Ayub Quadri, shortlisted 15 names.

Other members on the committee are the education secretary, information secretary and cultural affairs secretary. The advisory council committee on the national award nomination led by adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury made a final list and recommended the final nine names for the 2008 awards. Each of the recipients will get a gold medal, a trophy and Tk 40,000 in cash.

According to national award rules, Ekushey Award may be conferred on up to 15 people in a year.

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