Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Feb 24: The state government Tuesday announced March 11 as Oriya Bhasha Diwas (Oriya Language Day).
Speaking to mediapersons after a meeting, culture and tourism minister Ashok Panda said the culture department and the Orissa Sahitya Akademi will organise a host of programmes to mark the occasion which will be celebrated across the state.
Several competitions will be held at the district-level before March 5, following which the state-level competitions would be conducted at Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya in the capital city March 8. Meritorious participants will be awarded at a glittering ceremony here March 11, Panda said, adding cultural programmes are to be organised with special focus on the classical status of Oriya language.
State anthem status to ‘Bande Utkal Janani’
In another development, the culture minister said the state government has formed a committee initiating the process to accord state anthem status to ‘Bande Utkala Janani’.
The Oriya patriotic song was written by Kantakabi Laxmikanta Mohapatra at a time when the present state of Orissa was declared an independent state April 1, 1936.
“’Bande Utkala Janani’, in its approved standardised form, has already been accepted as the state anthem by the people of the state. We have formed the committee to go through various aspects of the song before according it with the status of state anthem,” he said.
The committee will be headed by the law secretary, and the secretaries of the information and public relations and culture departments and special secretary of Home would be the other members of the committee, the culture minister said.
