BHUBANESWAR: President Droupadi Murmu will inaugurate the 125th birth anniversary celebration of Utkal Keshari Dr Harekrushna Mahtab at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Thursday.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, who is on a four-day tour to Singapore, will also be present at the event. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Sekhawat and Cuttack MP Bhartruhari Mahtab will also be part of the programme.
A special commemorative stamp and coin will be released in honour of Dr Mahtab. Sahitya Akademi, an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Culture, has prepared a monograph in Odia and an English and Hindi translation of ‘Gaan Majlis’, a popular column by Dr Mahtab in Odia daily ‘Prajatantra’, for release during the programme.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Ministry of Culture constituted a 24-member high-level committee for commemoration of the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Mahtab.
Union Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah is the chairman of the committee which includes Pradhan, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Sekhawat and CM Majhi as ex-officio members.
Cuttack MP Mahatab, chairman of Prime Ministers Museum and Library Nripendra Misra, Union Home secretary Govind Mohan and Union I&B secretary Sanjay Jaju are the other ex-officio members while Union Culture secretary Arunish Chawla is the member secretary.
Member, Economic Advisory Council, PMO Sanjeev Sanyal, chairman of National Monuments Authority, Kishore K Basa, vice-chancellor of Lucknow University Alok Rai, former chief secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra, former diplomat Lalit Mansingh and former IRS officer Siddhartha Pradhan are members of the committee.
State BJP president Manmohan Samal, senior BJP leader Swapan Dasgupta, former minister Amar Satpathy are the other members. Eminent Odia writers Pratibha Ray, Rajendra Kishore Panda, Gourahari Das, Haraprasad Das and Tarun Kanti Mishra are also the members of the committee.
The terms and reference of the committee is to provide policy, direction and guidelines for formulation of programmes for celebration of Mahtab jayanti.