Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards

Context:

President recently said India’s unique performing arts had kept its incredible culture alive for centuries while giving away the Sangeet Natak Akademi awards and fellowships for 2019, 2020 and 2021.

About Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards:

Sangeet Natak Akademi, the apex body in the field of performing arts in the country, was set up in 1953 for the preservation and promotion of the vast intangible heritage of India’s diverse culture expressed in forms of music, dance and drama.
The management of the Akademi vests in its General Council.
The Chairman of the Akademi is appointed by the President of India for a term of five years.
Sangeet Natak Akademi is an autonomous body of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
The Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards are the highest national recognition conferred on practising artists.
The Akademi also confers Fellowships on eminent artists and scholars of music, dance and drama; and has in 2006 instituted annual awards to young artists – the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar.
The Sangeet Natak Akademi confers classical status on nine Indian dance forms:
- Bharatanatyam: Tamil Nadu
- Kathak: Northern India
- Kathakali: Kerala
- Kuchipudi: Andhra Pradesh
- Manipuri: Manipur
- Mohiniyattam: Kerala
- Odissi: Odisha
- Sattriya: Assam
- Chhau: Odisha