Bhubaneswar, Jan 31: Professor, linguist, social scientist, and author Padma Shri Debi Prasanna Pattanayak will be conferred by Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik in the first Biswa Odia Bhasa Sammilani (World Odia Language Conference), scheduled to be held from February 3 for his extensive study and research and his unique service to language and literature.
He will get a cash award of Rs 20 lakh and citation.
Earlier, he was also awarded Padma Shri in 1987. He played a major role in the Odia language acquiring classical language.
The committee headed by the 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 PK Swain and the Project Director of Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Odia of Indian government Prof. Basant Kumar Panda recommended the name of Pattanayak for this prestigious award.
