Bachendri Pal, Pritam n Shah bestowed with Padma Bhushan n Padma Shri Awards

The President of India Ram Nath Kovind today presented prestigious Padma Awards, the highest civilian honours of the country to about one hundred n sixteen proud recipients of various fields.

From Uttarakhand, the first Indian woman conquerer of Mount Everest, the highest Himalayan peak, was bestowed with Padma Bhushan while renowned Jaagar Samrat ( the Jaagar King) Pritam Bharatwan and renowned photographer Anup Shah received the coveted Padma Shree honours from the hands of president of India.

It was indeed a great honour for Uttarakhand to see these three outstanding personalities receive the coveted Padma Bhushan and Padma Shree awards at the hands of our President Ram Nath Kovind at the glittering function at Rashtrapati Bhawan amid cheers n clappings from the audience.

Jaagar Samrat Pritam Singh hails from the Sila village of Raipur block of Dehradun district.

An inborn talent in Dhol sagar n singing Pritam started singing n playing with traditional musical instruments Dhol n Damaau from the tender age of six.

His incessant love n dedication for singing, despite belonging to a modest background with lack of opportunities and resources, Pritam carved a niche for himself in singing folk songs by his hard work, determination and commitment.

He started singing from All India Radio Najibabad since 1988 and has till date brought out his 150 albums of mermerising folk songs in the market, impressing his millions of fans n followers.

Highly experienced in the art of Dhol Sagar n folk singing he has even taught in United States of America where research is being done on Dhol Sagar by foreign students who had learned the art of traditional Drum beating from Pritam Bhartwan.

The university in California has bestowed an honorary degree of doctorate on him for folk singing n Drum beating.

Pritam has a large fan following abroad as well.

Pritam Bhartwan was quite jubilant on receiving this coveted honour Padma Shree today and said that it is an honour of Uttarakhand’s cultural heritage n folk art.

His hearty wish is to dedicate this award to the folk culture, folk singing n Jagar of Uttarakhand so as to enable the present n coming generation get connected with the cultural heritage, folk music, singing n the tradition art of Jaagar of the Himalayan state.