President Murmu confers Padma Shri to Assam’s Sarbeswar Basumatary, Drona Bhuyan

Guwahati: President Droupadi Murmu on Monday (April 22) conferred Padma Shri to Assam’s Sarbeswar Basumatary in the field of Agriculture and Drona Bhuyan, in the field of Art, in a civil investiture ceremony held in New Delhi.

Sarbeswar Basumatary is a distinguished farmer currently serving as a member of the advisory board of the fishery department of Assam’s Chirang district.

He is also a member of ‘Krishi Vigyan Kendra and Sericulture’ of the district. Since 2017, he has been working as a promoter in the ‘Bordoisila Farmer Producer Company Limited.’

Born on April 8, 1962, Basumatary received education up to the 5th standard at the Bagidwara LP School.

At the age of 13, he went to Bokakhat, Dhansirimukh in the state’s Golaghat district and worked as a ploughman.

In 1984, he came back to Bongaigaon district’s Chiponsila and started cultivation.

Later, he shifted to the Bhutiapara village of Chirang district and began to cultivate land belonging to landlords.

Basumatary bought a piece of land in 1995, and in 1996, a training programme on agriculture was conducted at the Bijni sub-divisional agriculture office.

With the suggestions and guidance received during the training, Basumatary as the president of the ‘Panbari Banana Growers’ Society’ implemented several schemes and grew banana, orange and pineapple with satisfactory production.

In 2007, Basumatary was trained in fish farming, after which, he visited Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and also abroad.

He was also trained in horticulture at the Kalyani University in West Bengal’s Kolkata.

Basumatary is the recipient of numerous awards and honours.

He received the ‘Award of Excellence in Sericulture’ from the Bengaluru-based Central Silk Board in 2015.

The prestigious ‘Assam Gaurav’ award was bestowed upon him by the Governor of Assam in 2023, and the ‘Best Farmer Award’ by the Assam Agriculture University in 2022.

On the other hand, Drona Bhuyan is a great exponent of folk culture ‘Suknani Ojapali and Deodhani dance.’

Born on January 1, 1956, in Satgharia village of Sipajhar in Darrang district in a poor family, Bhuyan spent his life struggling against all odds. Due to lack of money, he could receive only primary education.

He was more interested in the ‘Suknani Sangeet’ and ‘Deodhani Dance.’ When Bhuyan was only seven years old, he started moving with his father to prepare a “jatra party” and was honoured in society for his extraordinary talent in acting.

He has acted in several dramas including ‘Village Girl,’ ‘Chandra Hangsa’ and ‘Lalasar Balley’ among others. His father sent him to accompany Ratneswar Bora, an “Oja” of ‘Suknani Ojapali’ to learn from where he was attached to the ‘Ojapali’ culture.

He started practising Ojapali under the leadership of Late Chandra Kanta Nath Oja.

Bhuyan performed Suknani Ojapali and Deodhani Dance in Delhi’s Pragati field in 1972.

He is also an expert in playing the drums. Bhuyan, today, is a successful leader of Suknani Sangeet and Deodhani Dance and contributed significantly to the improvement of the performing arts of the Darrang district.

As a regular artist of the All India Radio (AIR) Guwahati and Sangeet Natak Academy, he took part in the workshops of performing art not only in Assam but also in the National School of Drama, Delhi and the Tezpur Central University.

Bhuyan has received numerous awards, some of which are “GURU TILE” from the Ministry of Culture in 2009, “MEERA AWARD 2012,” organised by the ‘Rastriya Natya and Loka Kala Mahotsav’ in Agra, “Ek Kalin Bota” in 2019, “Bishnu Rabha Bota” in 2021 from the Assam cultural affairs department, and the Assam Gaurav in 2023.