Bhubaneswar: Internationally acclaimed linguist and writer Debi Prasanna Pattanayak will be conferred with the first World Odia Language Award. He will be presented the prestigious award during the first World Odia Language Conference.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will honour Pattanayak with the award during the three-day conference in recognition of his life-long dedication towards the research in Odia language, official sources said on Wednesday.
As part of the award, he will be presented Rs 20 lakh and citation. Dr Pattanayak’s research has greatly enriched the Odia language.
Famous as a scholar, researcher, linguist and writer, Dr Pattanayak has earned name and fame across the country as the founder director of Indian Language Institute.
He has been honoured with the Padma Shri for his dedicated efforts towards the development of Indian languages.
Dr Pattanayak’s valuable contribution towards securing classical status to Odia language is well known.
A committee comprising President of the Indian Language Council and former Professor of the Department of Linguistics, University of Hyderabad G Uma Maheshwar Rao, Vice-Chancellor of Odia University Prof Sabita Pradhan, Vice-Chancellor Of Utkal University of Culture P K Swain and the Project Director of Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Odia of Indian government Prof. Basant Kumar Panda had recommended the name of Pattanayak for this prestigious award.
