The State Government has planned to set up two Odia Chairs, one at the Central University of Gujarat (CUG) and another at the Central University of Hyderabad (CUH).
For this, the Government has sent a proposal to the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) for approval, said Culture Minister Ashok Chandra Panda after attending a review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday.
Briefing media persons, Panda said an Odia Chair is operational at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and another at the Banaras Hindu University. They are named after Adikabi Sarala Das and Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja, respectively.
The Minister informed that commemorative postage stamps were released on the Nabakalebara-2015 and ‘Neela Kandar’, a national artist camp organised on the occasion of Nabakalebara.
Panda said a detailed proposal has been sent to the Central Institute of Indian languages for Establishment of Centre of Excellence (Central Institute of Classical Odia) in the erstwhile campus of Utkal University of Culture. He said the Odisha Sahitya Academy has translated as many as 14 Odia creative writings into different languages like, Telugu, Bangali, Hindi and English. For the first time, the Odia Mahabharat by Adikabi Sarala Das has been translated into Hindi.
The Odia Bhasa Pratisthan has published two useful books namely ‘Prashasana Sabdakosh and 'Odia Bhasara Itibruta’.
The Minister said efforts have now been made to revive the traditional Bhagabat Tungis. “During last three years, the Culture Department has allotted Rs 9 crore to revive Bhagabat Tungis and, during the current financial year, a provision of Rs 9 crore has been made for the purpose,” he said.
He said a new scheme named ‘Mukhya Mantri Kalakaar Sahayata Yojana’ has been introduced for the welfare of indigent artists. About 50,000 eligible artists will be covered, he said.