The Asiatic Society will confer the prestigious Tagore Peace Award on Odia poet Sitakant Mahapatra (in picture) at a function in Calcutta on May 1.

A Parliament act has declared the Asiatic Society, founded in 1784, as an institution of national importance. “I am very happy to be chosen by the society for the prestigious award,” Mahapatra, author of many anthologies of poems, told The Telegraph. Picture by Ashwinee Pati