Guwahati, Dec. 31: Litterateur Chandra Prasad Saikia has been conferred the Assam Valley literary award for this year, while artist Shobha Brahma has been chosen for the Pranab Barua Shilpi Bota, the first award instituted in the Northeast for excellence in the field of art and sculpture.

Announcing the names of the award-winners, the Williamson Magor Education Trust said Saikia had been honoured “in recognition of his excellence in creative writing and his total literary contribution to Assamese society”.

The writer, a Sahitya Akademi award-winner and former president of the Asam Sahitya Sabha, will be presented the award at a function in March.

The Pranab Barua Shilpi Bota will be presented to Brahma at the Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra on February 22, the birth anniversary of the artist in whose memory the award has been instituted. Barua passed away this year. The award comprises a citation and Rs 25,000 in cash.

Brahma's name was chosen by a panel of selectors — constituted by the Pranab Barua Shilpi Bota Samiti — including litterateur-filmmaker Bhabendranath Saikia, Sahitya Akademi fellow Nilmoni Phukan, poet Hiren Bhattacharyya and folklorist and president-elect of the Asam Sahitya Sabha, Birendranath Dutta.

The other major announcement of the day was by Dada Saheb Phalke award-winner Bhupen Hazarika. He told members of the media at an informal year-end get-together that his song Manush Manusher Jonye, the Bangla version of Manuhe Manuhar Baabe, had been voted the “best song of the century” in a poll conducted by the BBC’s Bangla radio service.

“I was intimated over phone on Sunday night by the chief of BBC’s Bangla service, A. Haque, that my song Manush Manusher Jonye has been voted the best song of the century. He told me that 99 per cent of the votes polled were in favour of this song,” Hazarika said.

The song, composed during the Language Movement in 1960, was sung by Hazarika and Hemanga Biswas as part of a campaign to defuse tension in parts of Assam. Songs in languages spoken across the world featured in the opinion poll.

The lyricist-singer-composer said he was “not ready to believe the news” till he received a written intimation from the BBC.

Hazarika was the cynosure of all eyes when deceased folk singer Pratima Barua-Pandey’s body was taken out in a procession through the streets of the city on Friday.

Education mission

The Sarba Siksha Abhijan Mission has given priority to the universalisation of elementary education in tea garden areas of Assam, reports our Guwahati staff reporter.

The mission, after conducting a survey, found that 15 per cent of the areas do not have schools within a radius of 1.5 km. In some areas there are schools with a teacher ratio as high as 1:40. Only 15 per cent of tea garden areas have pre-primary school facilities.

The survey noted that alcoholism, lack of savings and early marriage were responsible for the dismal state of affairs.