THE AWARD WINNERS

Damayanti Beshra  is a  Santali  author and  Adivasi  researcher. She is known for literature of Santali language.   In 2020 she was honored by  Padma Shri  for her remarkable contribution to Santali literature. She was awarded the  Sahitya Akademi Award  in 2009. She also publishes the first women's magazine in Santali language called  Karam Dar . She is the first female writer in the language to author and publish an anthology of poems ‘Jiwi Jharna’ in 1994. [3]  She was awarded the  Padma Shri  in 2020. 2009: Awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2009.  2020:  Received Padma Shri for her remarkable contribution to Santali literature.

  Digambar Behera  (born 1953)  is a doctor from  Cuttack ,  Odisha , India. His specialization is in pulmonary diseases. In 2020, he received the  Padma Shri  honor from the  Government of India  for his contribution to the field of medicine. Behera completed  MBBS  in 1978 from  SCB Medical College  and MD in 1981 from  Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research  (PGI),  Chandigarh . In 1978, Behera joined the Department of Medicine at the PGI as a junior resident. He teaches the department of pulmonary medicine as a senior professor since 2000. He became the Head of the Department of Pulmonary Medicine in 2014 and the Dean of the Pulmonary Research Department in 2017 with two years extension from the Union Ministry. In 2011, he became the director of PGI. He is the chairman of the National Tuberculosis Elimination Program and of some divisions under the Indian Tuberculosis Res...