Niranjan Adhikari awarded Naren Biswas Padak '04

Eminent Wahidul Haque, recitors Bhaswar Bandyopadhyay and Ashraful Alam, instructor of Kanthoshilon Mir Barkat, and DU professor of Bangla Soumitra Shekhar were present at the event.

Professor Naren Biswas was the pioneer of refined pronunciation of Bangla in the country. He was also one of the founding members of the recitation group Kanthoshilon.

He started lecturing on his favourite subject, pronunciation, at Kanthoshilon. In 1988, Naren Biswas along with Professor Anisuzzaman, Wahidul Haque and Jamil Chowdhury brought out a dictionary of practical Bangla pronunciation. In 1990, Bangla Academy brought out Naren's Bangla Uchcharon Obhidhan. During the last days of his life, Naren Biswas recorded his lectures on Bangla pronunciation. He also supervised the 13 volumes of the audio production Oitijjer Ongikar (Promises of Culture), a collection of recitation from the rich treasure trove of Bangla literature and music. Priyo Pongktimala is one of his own recitation albums produced from Shabdoroop, a recitation group.

Niranjan Adhikari has made a remarkable contribution to the field of recitation and theatre. He has published several books of plays and poems including Kalo Ashok Lal Phul, Dukkho Theke Picnic, Nichhok Ananda Noy and Porikkha Pasher Shahoj Upay. During the Liberation War of Bangladesh, Niranjan worked as an orator at the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra under the pseudonym of 'Shobuj Chakroborty'. He also worked as journalist for the weekly Uttal Padma published during the War.

The previous recipients of the Naren Biswas Padak are Nazim Mahmud, Golam Mustafa, Nikhil Sen, Ashraful Alam and Sanjida Khatun.