Malda: Ashabari Gupta and Deeptayan Baruri, both from Malda, have been nominated for National Scholarship by the Department of Information and Culture, Government of India. Ashabari has been selected for her special achievement in drama and Deeptayan is going to get a national level scholarship for classical music.
The National Scholarship is handed out for talented artists of different age groups in various fields of fine art. These scholarships are given for various art forms, including classical music, Nazrul Geeti, Rabindra Sangeet, folk music and culture of different regions of India, drama and various instrumental music.
The beneficiaries are selected through a long and tedious process. During the Covid period, the selection of artistes was held online for two years and the results were declared a few days ago. Participants from various categories have been nominated from various states of India, including West Bengal. The two have been selected from Malda.
Deeptayan is a resident of Greenpark in English Bazar. His father Abhijit Baruri is a well-known tabla player in the district. Elated to be selected, Deeptayan says: “I have had a musical environment at home since childhood. Everyone in my family is into music. My name has been nominated following a different examination that I had to appear for. Everyone in the family is very happy. I owe this success to Guru Shubajit Banerjee and my father.”
Ashabari Gupta, who was nominated in the drama category, hails from Singatla in English Bazar. She is a member of Malda Anyaranga theatre group. Ashabari has earlier been honoured with the West Bengal Natya Academy award for special achievements in drama. “This scholarship from the Government of India is a great honour for me. The process, which was conducted entirely online, began in 2020-21. Nominations are secured through a thorough examination process. I thank my drama guru Soumen Bhowmik, parents and my drama family for this success.”