Report by OD bureau, Bhubaneswar: The prestigious Odisha Living Legend Awards instituted by OdishaDiary (OD) will be conferred on leading individuals and groups that made unique contribution to different walks of life in the state of Odisha. In 14 different categories this year’s awards panel has chosen the best candidates in their respective fields. 

On the seventh foundation day in 2012, OdishaDiary will confer the popular Odisha Living Legend Awards on inspiring legends to recognise excellent work by leading Odias. This year leading Odias like diplomat Dr. Subhakanta Behera, noted actor Uttam Mohanty, sports guru Kishore Mania, award winning film maker Nila Madhab Panda, business leader Dr. Santrupt Mishra, former editor of The Samaj and social activist Manorama Mohapatra, popular novelist Bibhuti Patnaik, alternate fuel inventor Dr. Lalit Mohan Das, Ravenshaw University VC Prof. Baishnab Charan Tripathy, Entrepreneur Bimal Rath, social activist Buguru Chittiama,  NRO advocacy leader Prof Chitta Baral, will receive Living Legend Awards. 

This year the award ceremony will be held on 10 November 2012 at Jaydev Bhawan. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is likely to confer this well known award to these Living Legends. The event is likely to be inaugurated and addressed by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Finance Minister Prasana Achrya, Health Minister Dr Damodar Rout and Energy & IPR Minister Arun Sahoo and Rabi Mohapatra, Member of Parliament. 

Odisha Living Legend Awardees, 2012 (In alphabetical order according to surname)

1. Prof Chitta Baral  (Non-Resident Odia)

2. Dr. Subhakanta Behera (Public Policy)

3. Buguru Chittiama (Social Service)

4. Dr. Lalit Mohan Das (Promoting Science)

5. Kishore Mania (Sports)

6. Dr. Santrupt Mishra (Business Leadership)

7. Uttam Mohanty (Contribution to Odia Cinema)

8. Manorama Mohapatra for Journalism

9. Jagannath Panda (Art and Culture)

10. Nila Madhab Panda (Social Service-Films)

11. Bibhuti Patnaik (Literature)

12. Bimal Rath (Entrepreneurship)

13. Tata Steel (Corporate Social Responsibility)

14. Prof. Baishnab Charan Tripathy (Promoting Education) 

It should be noted that on the sixth foundation day in 2011, OdishaDiary had established Odisha Living Legend Award to recognise excellent work by leading Odias. Last year leading Odias like Tualsi Munda, Sitakanta Mohaptra, Jharana Das, Dilip Tirkey and Sudarsan Patnaik etc received Living Legend Awards. For details on the 2011 awardees and the updates on the 2012 Living Legend Awards please visit OdishaDiary at www.odishadiary.tv, and www.orissadiary.com. 

Chittiama is woman with a mission. She has brought a revolution in the fishing community of Ganjam. For last four decades she has been a voice of eduaction and empowerment for hundreds of women. Through her inititiave ‘Samudram’ established in 1995 she has tirelessly worked on social issues like women education, empowerment, poverty reduction and sustainable fishing. In 2010 UNDP honoured her with Equator Award for ‘Poverty reduction by Conservation and Sustainable use of Bio-Diversity’ and in 2011 Godfrey Phillips Amodini Award in 2011 for ‘Women Empowerment.’

This Living Legend award is an acknowledgement of her work in making communities especially traditional marine fisher-women as stakeholders in economic development and empowerment and for doing exemplary work in promoting local socio-cultural knowledge by blending with modern technology.  

Manorama Mohapatra has been a leading voice of reason for decades on different issues especially on media, literature and women. Former editor at the Samaj and President of Sahitya Academy, Ms. Mohapatra’s has done extraordinary work as a journalist, editor, writer and an activist. This award is an acknowledgement of her decades of excellent work as a journalist and activist.  

Prof. Baishnab Charan Tripathy, the Vice Chancellor of Ravenshaw University, is an internationally acclaimed scientist who has taught and nurtured hundreds of future scientists at the School of Life Science in JNU. His work at the Space Biology Programme for the NASA of the government of the United States was a great achievement for any Indian.  At Ravenshaw he has been an institution builder who has started implementing his vision for expansion and growth. Ravenshaw has attracted national and international attention due to his work and ideas. This award is an acknowledgement of his work at JNU, NASA and Ravenshaw.  

Bibhuti Patnaik is the most popular and celebrated novelist in the history of modern Odia Novel and literature. He has been a winner of numerous awards for his outstanding contribution to Odia language and literature. Many of his writings have been either turned into or inspired Odia films. He has inspired at least three generations of writers and novelists through his incredibly popular writing style. 

A household name among the reading minds of Odisha, his idea and dream of romantic love, gender equality, casteless society are reflected in his numerous writings including  Premika, Badhu Nirupama, Aswamedhara Ghoda, Sesha Basanta, Abhimana, Trutiya Purusha, Badhu Nirupama, Prathama Sakala and Sesha Ratira Surya etc. 

This award is a recognition of Patnaik’s excellent contribution to Odia literature throughout last five decades.   

Dr. Lalit Mohan Das is an internationally acclaimed scientist in hydrogen engines. His extensive and two decade long study to use hydrogen as an alternative fuel has recently been successfully tested. This has the potential to reduce vehicular pollution as hydrogen is non-polluting in comparison to petrol and CNG. This has been possible due to his revolutionary vision in scientific studies. 

He is currently a Professor at the Centre for Energy Studies, IIT Delhi. He did his degree in Mechanical Engineering from the REC, Rourkela in 1970 and M. Tech degree from the, Kharagpur in 1972. His primary areas of research interest include development of alternative-fuelled low emission engine/vehicles. He has published more than 80 research papers in various independently refereed international and national journals in the area of alternative fuels such as Hydrogen, CNG, Biodiesel and Hydrogen-CNG blend. This award is an acknowledgement of his decades of inspiring work on hydrogen engines and the discovery of the utility of hydrogen as an alternate fuel. 

Dr. Behera, now the Consul General of India at Melbourne Australia, is a practitioner-scholar in the traditions of Kautliya and Plato’s philosopher king. As an Odia Foreign Service Officer (IFS) for last 25 years he has represented India with pride and distinction. He is a proud and culturally rooted Odia. He has promoted Odia culture, language and literature through his scholarly publications, official speeches, popular writings and creative pursuits. He has a BA in History from Ravenshaw, MA in World History from Utkal, MPhil in International Relations from JNU and a PhD in Oriya Literature and Jagannath Cult from Oxford. As a keen student of world history, he has successfully combined his interest in literature and culture to advance an understanding of the theory and practices of contemporary international politics and diplomacy. He has widely written and published on the history of Odisha including Jagannath Culture, Mahima Dharma and Fakir Mohan Senapati etc.  

This Living Legend Award is an acknowledgement of his two and half decade of excellent work as a scholar-practitioner in history, international relations, foreign policy, cultural diplomacy and especially for promoting Odia Soft Power at a global stage. 

Dr. Mishra is a double PhD, one in Political Science from Utkal and second in Industrial Relations from Ashton Business School UK. A multiple gold medallist, Dr. Mishra is well known as an academic cum manager. His expertise in Human Resources makes him one of the few leading practitioners in the country.  Considered as a role model and exemplary leader in HR and organisation management, Dr. Mishra has won multiple awards to study and work in Europe and United States. Dr. Santrupt Mishra is presently the CEO, Carbon Black Business and Director, Group HR. In addition he is also a Director on the Aditya Birla Management Corporation Private Limited Board, the apex decision making body of the Aditya Birla Group.

This award is an acknowledgement of his decades of inspiring work in organisational management, Human Resources and business leadership. 

Jagannath Panda is an internationally acclaimed artist who uses Odia sensibilities and aesthetics in his art and has made it very popular at the national and global levels. Trained in Bhubaneswar, Baroda, Japan and London, Mr. Panda’s art bring in unique energy to painting. He has recently founded the Ustha Foundation. The main aim and objectiveof the foundation is to promote Odisha's art, culture and tradition. He is also closely involved with a proposal for an art museum in Bhubaneswar.  He has attended solo and group shows in England, Italy, Germany, United States, China, Japan, South Korea and France etc. This award is an acknowledgment of his work to take Odia art to the international level. 

Kishore Mania, considered as the Ramakant Achrekar of Odisha, is a legendary figure in the history of Odisha Cricket. His decades of dedicated work have produced great cricket players for the state including leading national level players like fast bowler Debashis Mohanty, all-rounder Ranjib Biswal and test-match opener Shiv Sundar Das. 

His contribution goes beyond these big names also. Cricketers like Sritam Das  Amiya Ray and Tukuna Sahoo owe a great deal to this simple man of discipline, commitment and inspirations. He has been the inspiration for generations of cricketers to perform at the highest level.  

This award is an acknowledgement of his 35-year-long contribution to Odisha cricket in grooming hundreds of cricketers at the state and national level.

Uttam Mohanty does not need an introduction. He has served the Odia film industry for more than three decades providing immense entertainment to Odia cine lovers through his romantic, comic, serious and character roles. In last 35 years he has acted in more than 150 films and became the most reliable star in drawing cine lovers to watch his movies. He has been well known for his unique acting prowess to do action, romantic serious, comic and character roles with equal ease and brilliance.  

This award is an acknowledgement of his decades of excellent work and contribution to Odia cinema.  

A Professor at Arizona State University of the United States, Prof Baral is a well-known as a passionate advocate of strengthening education and health in Odisha. As a leading Non-Resident Odia, he has been a strong policy advocate on the issues of development, health, education and cultural heritage. Through his extensive research and advocacy he has been able to influence policy makers in Odisha and India. The National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) and IIT-Bhubaneswar were two such successful campaigns. 

Prof Baral through his constant engagement with the development issues, has inspired many young Odias throughout the globe to take active interest in Odisha’s development. He has set a standard for many NROs to follow the path of policy advocacy.

This award is an acknowledgement of his decade long work as a public intellectual and policy advocate in the cause of Odisha’s development and global reputation. 

Nila Madhab Panda is an internationally award winning film maker with a social conscience. His recent movies I am Kalam and Jalpari have received global acclaim. A UN audio-visual award winner (2002), he has been honoured with Heroism in Cinematography 2003 and the UK Environment Film Fellowship 2002. He has made over 60 documentaries all with social messages. He believes in the human desire, ambition and in the inherent human capacity to realise our dreams. The characters in his films are a testimony to this fact.  His films are simple yet though provoking, his recent characters are children yet they can teach all of us about essence and beauty of human life. His has been a voice of the unheard and oppressed. 

This award is an acknowledgment of his fourteen years of work in film making and for choosing this medium effectively to raise issues of social relevance. 

Bimal Rath, is a multi-talented business leader and entrepreneur. He has done pioneering work in advancing knowledge in Human Resources and for more than two decades he has played a leading role in diverse capacities in many countries in Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa working for prestigious corporate brands like Nokia, Eicher, British Telecom, Cadence and Tata Sons. Bimal sits on the board of several companies, prominent among them being Braahmam Net Solutions. He founded this company with a vision of connecting nationalities and speakers of different languages. This is a unique company and manages translations over 120 languages. It is now moving international and is focused in its next phase to work on translating and localizing writing which is otherwise owned by a particular community of language speakers. 

He is currently involved in developing a model for college going youth to help them discover their passions and talents early on in life and create a whole some contribution towards themselves, their families and society. He mentors several young entrepreneurs and young companies as a passion. 

This award is an acknowledgment of his two decades of excellent work in the areas of Leadership development, Human Resources, Strategy and Alliance Management. 

CSR is in the DNA of Tata. They have set national and global standards in CSR. For last many years Tata’s CSR initiatives in Odisha have been in the areas of developing sustainable livelihood, health, sports, environment, job skills training, education and preservation of tribal culture and identity. 

Due to Tata Steel’s initiatives around 4 lakh people get benefit in healthcare annually. 200 mostly women run Self Help Groups (SHGs) provides livelihood opportunities for more than 3000 rural households. More than 200 education institutions receive assistance including fellowships for tribal students. Tata Steel also provides financial support to KISS at Bhubaneswar and Adivasi Vikas Samiti at Keonjhar, two well-known centres for free learning and training for tribal students.  From promoting alternative energy at Kalinga Nagar to setting up a stadium at Keonjhar for aspiring sports persons, Tata Steel has heavily invested in Odisha’s present and future. 

This award is an acknowledgment of Tata Steel Odisha’s decades of inspiring and visionary work in the field of CSR.