Assam's highest civilian award for national integration to be conferred by V-P Naidu

The Assam government will confer the 'Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi Award' for National Integration and National Contribution to a prominent person and the award would be conferred by Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu during his proposed visit to the state on October 3, officials said here on Monday.
Assam government officials said that the name of the awardee would be declared soon by the government. Earlier, it was erroneously reported that the award would be given to the Vice-President.

According to the officials, the prize amount of the biennial award, which was named after Gopinath Bordoloi, a freedom fighter and the first Chief Minister of Assam after India's Independence, was increased to Rs 5 lakh from Rs two lakh. The award also carries a citation.

Bordoloi was called the architect of modern Assam and he was bestowed the Bharat Ratna in 1999 for his contributions to the society.

Officials said that the cabinet in its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday decided to make the award a biennial affair.

According to the officials, the cabinet also decided to change the names of the state's highest civilian awards, to be given in various fields. The Assam Ratna award from now onwards will be known as Asom Baibhav, Assam Vibhushan as Asom Saurav and Assam Bhusan and Assam Shree award as Asom Gaurav - IANS