The state government will for the first time felicitate painters and performing artistes with Bihar Kala Puraskar for contribution to their respective fields on Saturday.

The art, culture and youth affairs department will confer the awards named after veterans in the fields of performing arts and visual art.

The list of awardees include Kathak exponent Pandit Birju Maharaj and painter Syed Haider Raza and 25 persons from the state.

The award ceremony, to be held at the chief minister’s secretariat on May 25, is an initiative to encourage the experts financially and morally. While the 25 state-level awards have been categorised into contemporary art, folk arts, theatre, vocal classical, instrumental and dance, senior and young artistes doing well in the fields will be felicitated in each section.

Two lifetime achievement awards would also be given. Sources said the awardees have been selected on the basis of suggestions invited from department officials.

On the reason behind awarding the painters and stage performers, art, culture and youth affairs department director Vinay Kumar told The Telegraph: “This is an initiative to support them from the state financially and morally. Those from the state and also living outside Bihar but contributing to the performing and visual arts would be felicitated. Each of the sub-categories has been divided into two — seniors and young.”

The seniors will be awarded Rs 35,000 while the juniors would be given Rs 10,000 each. Among the veterans to be awarded are painter Ragini Sinha, late Manjusha artist Chakravarty Devi, theatre artiste Prem Lata Mishra and tabla player Shamsher Bahadur Singh.

The awards to be conferred have also been named after veterans such as Bismillah Khan (shehnai player), Bhikhari Thakur (theatre artiste), Sita Devi (Madhubani painting), Ramdhari Singh Dinkar (Hindi poet), Kumud Sharma (painter).

The lifetime achievement awards to be given to painter Anandi Prasad Badal and classical dancer Vishwa Bandhu and the national-level awards to Pandit Birju Maharaj and Syed Haider Raza will carry an amount of Rs 1 lakh each.

The state government’s decision has elicited appreciation from several communities. Rahul Dev, one of the young awardees, is glad about the move to promote and support a local artist like him.

Dev, who is pursuing his PhD from the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, in German Expressionism has been nominated for the Dinkar Award in visual creative writing.

He said: “The state has miles to go when it came to the appreciation and promotion of art and culture. However, the government’s move is very noteworthy. There are many artists from Bihar who are internationally recognised but there is a dire need of more cultural exercise from the state so that we get more exposure.”

Vinay Kumar, the art, culture and youth affairs department director, said: “The names have been discussed keeping every possible detail, including contribution, time span, potential and skills, in mind. We have tried to keep the list balanced by felicitating both seniors and the young blood in the respective fields.”