
Adwaita Charan Gadanayak, Art
Adwaita Charan Gadanayak is known for his monumental sculptures. Born and brought up in Neulapoi village of Dhenkanal district, Gadanayak pursued art education from BK College of Arts and Crafts and completed his master’s degree from College of Art in New Delhi. He also studied at the Slade School of Fine Arts in London and is a recipient of the Lalit Kala Akademi award. The former director-general of National Gallery of Modern Art under the Ministry of Culture, some of his masterpieces are the ‘Dandi March’ at Rajghat, National Police Memorial and statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at the India Gate, New Delhi. He has worked with black granite stone all through his career.
Dr Ashok Kumar Mahapatra, Medicine
Dr Ashok Kumar Mahapatra is an acclaimed neurosurgeon of the country. An alumnus of MKCG Medical College, Berhampur, he was chief of the Neurosciences Centre at AIIMS, New Delhi and also the former director of AIIMS-Bhubaneswar from 2012 to 2016. Back in 2017, Dr Mahapatra had led one of the most successful separation surgeries in the world when he and his team at AIIMS, New Delhi, separated Jaga and Balia, conjoined twins from Kandhamal district. He is currently the principal advisor (health sciences) to the Academy of Sciences and Research of Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) deemed to be university in Bhubaneswar. He was also the former VC of the university.
Pratibha Satpathy, Literature, Education
Pratibha Satpathy, a noted poet of Odia literature, has been chosen for her significant contribution to the fields of literature and education. She became prominent in the 1960s with her work ‘Sesha Janha.’ Winner of the Central Sahitya Akademi award in 2001 for her poetry collection ‘Tanmaya Dhuli’, Satpathy has been writing poetry for more than four decades which primarily focuses on human relationships. She was the editor of one of the leading Odia magazines ‘Istahaar’ for 25 years. Her writings have been translated into various Indian and foreign languages and she has also translated a number of famous English literatures of well-known writers such as Perl S Buck into Odia.
Durga Charan Ranbir, Art
Odissi Guru Durga Charan Ranbir, a leading guru of contemporary Odissi, is one of the most celebrated disciples of late Guru Deba Prasad Das. Founder of dance school Nrutyayan, Ranbir has been involved in creating new training techniques for Odissi, and has extended and propagated the vocabulary of the dance form developed by his guru for over five decades. A recipient of Central Sangeet Natak Akademi award, Ranbir has taught Odissi at prestigious institutions in several places like Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Delhi and the US. Born in a remote village called Kamaguru in Khurda district, Ranbir’s several choreographies have received critical acclaim. He had attained his initial training at the Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya in Bhubaneswar.