Assam to confer state's highest civilian award 'Asom Baibhav' to Ratan Tata on Jan 24

The Assam government will confer the state's highest civilian award, Asom Baibhav, to chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, Ratan Naval Tata on Monday, January 24, in Guwahati. However, the industrialist will not be able to attend the event personally due to COVID-19. His representative will receive the award. the Assam government will also award the Asom Saurav and Asam Gourav to eminent people on the same day.

In a letter to CM Hemanta Biswa, Ratan Tata said, "I greatly appreciate and am deeply touched by the decision of the government of Assam to bestow on me the Assam Baibhav Award for the year 2021. I have been an admirer of your personal commitment to the wellbeing of the Assamese people and it is, therefore, an exceptional honour to receive this award. (sic)"

The letter added, "Thank you for understanding my inability to personally receive the award at the function to be held in Guwahati on January 24 and your willingness to present it to me at a later date in Mumbai. It would be a pleasure to meet you and our offices could work together to find a suitable date for such a meeting."

The Assam government is conferring 'Asom Baibhav' to Ratan Tata for his contribution to setting up cancer treatment facilities in the state. Tata Trusts had signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the Assam government in 2018, giving a formal share to this project.

List of Asom awardees:

• Asom Baibhav: Ratan Naval Tata
• Asom Sourav: Professor Kamalendu Deb Krori, Dr Lakshmanan S, Professor Dipak Chand Jain, Neel Pawan Baruah, and Lovlina Borgohain
• Asom Gourav: Munindra Nath Ngatey, Manoj Kr Basumatary, Hemoprabha Chutia, Dharanidhar Boro, Dr Basanta Hazarika, Khorsing Terang, Namita Kalita, Kaushik Boruah, Boby Hazarika, Akash Jyoti gogoi, Dr Asif Iqbal, Kalpana Boro, and Bornita Momin

Lovlina Borgohain, who is being conferred the Assam Sourav award, had won a bronze medal for India at the Tokyo Olympics. Neel Pawan Baruah, who is also receiving an Assam Sourav is a renowned Assamese artist. Hemoprabha Chutia is a record-making weaver.