Context :

• President Droupadi Murmu conferred the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships and Awards for the years 2024 and 2025 on 115 artists on 13 August 2026.

Key Points :

• Total Honored Artists : 115 artists (combining both 2024 and 2025 cycles)
• Award Presenter : President Droupadi Murmu
• Venue : Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi
• Ministry : Union Ministry of Culture
• Dignitaries Present : Union Minister of Culture and Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Minister of State for Culture Rao Inderjit Singh

Awards & Prizes :

• Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship (Akademi Ratna) : This is the highest and most prestigious honor, restricted to a maximum of 40 living Fellows at any given time. It carries a cash prize of ₹3 lakh, a Tamrapatra (copper plaque), and an Angavastram.
• Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (Akademi Puraskar) : Conferred for outstanding contribution to the performing arts. It carries a cash prize of ₹1 lakh, a Tamrapatra, and an Angavastram.
• Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar : Awarded to young artists (below 40 years of age) for exceptional talent in performing arts, carrying a cash prize of ₹25,000.

List of 7 Personalities Honored as Akademi Fellows :

• Ramlal Bareth (Kathak / Arts Field)
• A. V. Anand (Mridangam / Carnatic Music)
• Rita Ganguly (Hindustani Classical Vocal / Thumri)
• Puru Dadheech (Kathak / Scholar & Academician)
• Chittaranjan Jyotishi (Classical Music)
• Pasumarthy Rattaiah Sarma (Kuchipudi Bhagavatulu)
• Sudharani Raghupathy (Bharatanatyam)

Akademi Awardees for the Year 2024

Field of Activity: Music (12) :

• Arun Nagesh Kashalkar : Hindustani Vocal
• Nirmalya Dey : Hindustani Vocal – Dhrupad
• Bharat Bhushan Goswami : Hindustani Instrumental – Sarangi
• Sanjay Mukherjee : Hindustani Instrumental – Tabla
• Krishna Vageesh : Carnatic Vocal
• N. Vijay Siva : Carnatic Vocal
• A. S. Krishnan : Carnatic Instrumental – Morsing
• Komanduri Seshadri : Carnatic Instrumental – Violin
• Rakesh Chaurasia : Creative and Experimental – Flute
• Prabhati Mukherjee : Other Major Traditions of Music – Sugam Sangeet
• Anand Bhate : Other Major Traditions of Music – Abhang
• Samandar Khan Manganiyar : Other Major Traditions of Music – Maand

Field of Activity: Dance (12) :

• Rajeswari Sainath : Bharatanatyam
• Bipul Chandra Das : Kathak
• Rajkumari Thambalsana Devi : Manipuri
• Veena Murthy Vijay : Kuchipudi Dance
• Bichitrananda Swain : Odissi
• Prema Ojah Borbayan : Sattriya
• Sreedevi Rajan : Mohiniyattam
• Nrupen Sahis : Chhau
• Shashidharan Nair : Creative and Experimental
• Kalamandalam Unnikrishnan : Music for Dance – Kathakali
• Kumar Surya Narayan : Music for Dance

Field of Activity: Theatre (10) :

• Satish Dave : Direction
• T. S. Nagabharana : Direction
• Ravi Chaturvedi : Direction
• Om Katare : Direction
• Gummadi Gopal Krishna Rao : Acting
• Vagai Chandrasekhar : Acting
• Arun Nalawade : Acting
• Dhiren D. Merchant : Theatre Allied Arts – Lighting
• Dinesh Kumar Poddar : Theatre Allied Arts – Lighting
• Mukund Ram Marathe : Traditional Theatre – Sangeet Natak

Field of Activity: Folk & Tribal / Puppetry / Mask Making / Instrument Making (13) :

• Dursheti Ramayya : Folk Music, Telangana
• K. Murugan : Folk Dance, Puducherry
• S. C. Sharma : Folk and Tribal Music, Karnataka
• Atmajit Singh : Nautanki, Uttar Pradesh
• Mahendra Ram : Folk Music, Bihar
• Bootan Devi and Somari Devi (Joint) : Folk Dance, Jharkhand
• Ranjeet Kumar Nag : Folk Dance – Sambalpuri, Odisha
• Hawa Singh : Folk Music, Haryana
• Veswuzo Phesao : Folk Music and Dance, Nagaland
• Gulabo Sapera : Folk Dance, Rajasthan – Kalbelia
• Lourembam Bedabati : Folk Music, Manipur
• Subhash Narayan Nakashe : Folk Dance, Maharashtra
• Kishorbhai Somabhai Mistry : Instrument Making – Rudra Veena

Field of Activity: Overall Contribution and Others (5) :

• T. S. Satyavathi : Overall Contribution in Music
• Voleti Rangamani : Overall Contribution in Dance
• Shubhada Manohar Varadkar : Proficiency in Performing Arts – Dance
• Tapati Chowdhury : Art Criticism – Performing Arts
• Sunanda Nair : Foreigner – Dance (Mohiniyattam)

Akademi Awardees for the Year 2025

Field of Activity: Music (12) :

• Krishna Mohan Pathak : Hindustani Vocal – Dhrupad
• Suresh Gandharv : Hindustani Vocal
• Shailesh Bhagwat : Hindustani Instrumental – Shehnai
• Jyoti Ganapati Hegde : Hindustani Instrumental – Rudra Veena
• Pantula Rama : Carnatic Vocal
• Papanasam Ashok Ramani : Carnatic Vocal
• Tripunithura N. Radhakrishnan : Carnatic Instrumental – Ghatam
• Anoor R. Anantha Krishna Sharma : Carnatic Instrumental – Mridangam
• D. Srinivas : Carnatic Instrumental – Veena
• Yugantar Sindoor : Other Major Traditions of Music – Sugam Sangeet
• Sachidananda Das : Other Major Traditions of Music – Mardala
• Seema Anil Sehgal : Other Major Traditions of Music – Sugam Sangeet

Field of Activity: Dance (12) :

• Krishna Mohan Mishra Maharaj, Bhaswati Mishra and Ram Mohan Maharaj (Trio) : Kathak
• Kalamandalam Krishnakumar : Kathakali
• Irengbam Nalini Devi : Manipuri
• Seetha Nagajothi and P. Nagajothi (Joint) : Manipuri
• Mallika Kandali : Sattriya
• Girija Chandran : Mohiniyattam
• Pagulu Jena : Chhau – Mayurbhanj
• Kaniyal Hariprasad : Music for Dance – Bharatanatyam
• Bhaskar Jyoti Ojah : Music for Dance – Sattriya
• S. Kumar : Other Major Traditions of Dance and Dance Theatre – Bhagavata Mela

Field of Activity: Theatre (10) :

• Kapildev Chandrakant Shukla : Direction
• Kallol Bhattacharya : Direction
• Navdeep Kaur : Direction
• Pramod Danyanadev Pawar : Direction
• Subodh Patnaik : Direction
• Chetana Das : Acting
• Suresh Kumar Hajju : Acting
• Makhan Lal Saraf : Acting
• Ashok Patki : Theatre Allied Arts – Music for Theatre
• Usha Nangiar : Other Major Traditions of Theatre – Nangiarkoothu

Field of Activity: Folk & Tribal / Puppetry / Mask Making / Instrument Making (13) :

• Anoop Ranjan Pandey : Folk Music, Chhattisgarh
• Bheru Singh Chauhan : Folk Music, Madhya Pradesh – Nirguni
• Surya Kumar Debbarma : Folk Dance, Tripura
• Joginder Singh Habbi : Folk Dance, Himachal Pradesh
• Romalo Ram : Folk Music and Dance, Jammu and Kashmir
• Harmanpreet Singh : Folk Dance, Punjab
• Ali Mohammad : Folk Music, Ladakh
• Domin Karbak : Folk Dance, Arunachal Pradesh
• K. Rosiama : Folk Dance, Mizoram
• Rani Maring : Instrument Making
• Sushanta Kumar : Mask Making – Chhau
• Mangala Prasad Sharma : Instrument Making

Field of Activity: Overall Contribution and Others (5) :

• Kunal : Overall Contribution in Theatre
• Manisha Sathe : Overall Contribution in Dance – Kathak
• Rakesh Sinha : Overall Contribution – Art Photography
• Manjari Sinha : Art Criticism – Performing Arts
• T. S. Nandakumar : Foreigner – Music (Mridangam)

Sangeet Natak Akademi (Static GK)

• Year of Establishment : Set up on 31 May 1952 by the Union Ministry of Education and became fully operational in 1953.
• Inauguration : Formally inaugurated on 28 January 1953 by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India.
• Parent Ministry : Functions as an autonomous body under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
• Headquarters : Rabindra Bhawan, Feroze Shah Road, New Delhi.
• Chairman : Dr. Sandhya Purecha (Renowned Bharatanatyam dancer and scholar).

Constituent Units :

• Kathak Kendra (National Institute of Kathak Dance) : Located in New Delhi (Established in 1964).
• Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy (JNMDA) : Located in Imphal, Manipur.
• Sattriya Kendra : Located in Guwahati, Assam (Dedicated to promoting Sattriya dance).
• Kutiyattam Kendra : Located in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (Dedicated to ancient Sanskrit theater).

Recognition of Classical Dances : Sangeet Natak Akademi officially recognizes 8 Classical Dance Forms of India:

• Bharatanatyam (Tamil Nadu)
• Kathak (Uttar Pradesh / North India)
• Kathakali (Kerala)
• Mohiniyattam (Kerala)
• Kuchipudi (Andhra Pradesh)
• Odissi (Odisha)
• Manipuri (Manipur)
• Sattriya (Assam)

Note: While the Ministry of Culture recognizes 9 Classical Dances (including Chhau), the Sangeet Natak Akademi officialy recognizes only 8.