Current Affairs

Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for 2024 and 2025 conferred on 106 young performing artists

19-10-2026 · English

Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for 2024 and 2025 conferred on 106 young performing artists

Topics: Awards · 19 October 2026 Current Affairs (UPSC / TNPSC / SSC / RRB)

News

The Sangeet Natak Akademi's 'Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar' for 2024 and 2025 was conferred on 106 young artists in all on 19 Oct 2026 (Monday) at the Meghdoot Theatre complex, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi; Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat presented the awards. Awardees span music, dance, theatre, folk and tribal arts, puppetry and allied arts. The award: ₹25,000 cash, a tamrapatra (copper plaque) and an angavastram. The awardees were selected by the Akademi's General Council in June 2026.

Key facts

Ceremony19 Oct 2026 – Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi; presented by Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (Culture Minister)
Awardees106 young artists (2024 + 2025)
Award₹25,000 + tamrapatra + angavastram; artists under 40; instituted 2006
Sangeet Natak Akademi31 May 1952 – set up; 28 Jan 1953 – inaugurated by President Rajendra Prasad; Ministry of Culture; New Delhi
First ChairmanDr P. V. Rajamannar
Bismillah KhanShehnai maestro; born Dumraon (Bihar); Varanasi; Bharat Ratna 2001

Background

  • Sangeet Natak Akademi – the national academy of music, dance and drama; an autonomous body of the Union Ministry of Culture. Its top honours: the Akademi Fellowship (Akademi Ratna – ₹3 lakh) and the Akademi Award (Akademi Puraskar – ₹1 lakh, conferred by the President). For 2024–25, 108 artists were chosen for the Akademi Award.
  • Ustad Bismillah Khan (1916–2006): shehnai maestro born in Dumraon, Bihar, who lived in Varanasi; played the shehnai at the Red Fort on Independence Day 1947; Bharat Ratna 2001. This award for young artists was instituted in 2006, after his death.
  • Musicians awarded the Bharat Ratna: M. S. Subbulakshmi (1998 – the first musician), Pt Ravi Shankar (1999), Lata Mangeshkar and Bismillah Khan (2001), Bhimsen Joshi (2009), Bhupen Hazarika (2019).

Tamil Nadu link: the Sangeet Natak Akademi's first Chairman, Dr P. V. Rajamannar, was a former Chief Justice of the Madras High Court. The 2024–25 Yuva Puraskar list includes Carnatic music (vocal, flute) categories. At State level, the 'Kalaimamani' award for artists is given by the Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Manram.

Source: ANI, Eastern Mirror, 19 Oct 2026; All India Radio News, 11 June 2026; PIB awardee list, June 2026; Vajiram (SNA)

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