Page 43 - NIS English 16-31,March 2023

Padma Samman Nation
master of this heritage art. He has built a team of
125 people who use this art to support themselves
and their families. Although Kapil Dev asserts that
few people recognise the subtlety and skill of this
art, the market for Bawan Booti is weak and the
number of consumers is low because machine-
made clothes dominate the market.
However, he believes that since the central
government announced the Padma Award to him
Karma Wangchu
ormer Arunachal Pradesh minister and
F social worker Karma Wangchu has been
announced as the recipient of the Padma Shri
award posthumously. Karma Wangchu was the
first person from Tawang district to be appointed
as a minister in the state government. He did,
Hem Chandra Goswami
em Chandra Goswami is not a new name
H to anyone familiar with the art and cultural
history of Assam, whose mask is on display at
the Victoria and Albert Museum. Goswami has
played an important role in reviving and promoting
the state's "mukha" traditions around the world.
The 64-year-old Goswami will receive the Padma
Shri award for 2023. He specialises in making
traditional masks depicting a wide variety of
for his work in this field, people are becoming
more aware of it. Its market will expand as well.
Apart from sarees, Bawan Booti is also being
used on bed covers and curtains. The symbols of
Buddhist religion and culture are finely worked into
the booties. The lotus flower, the Bodhi tree, the
bull, the trident, the goldfish, the wheel of dharma,
and the conch shell are all symbols found on the
Bawan Booti. Its sarees are also in high demand.
Worked to preserve
Arunachal’s cultural
heritage
however, retire from active politics in 1994.
He has been doing social service in Tawang
and surrounding areas for the last 50 years,
either during or after his political career. The
Indo-Tibetan Friendship Society was founded
by him. With their assistance, more than 1250
children in Tawang's border villages received
free education and residential facilities.
Wangchu worked tirelessly to preserve and
promote the state's rich cultural heritage, as
well as to serve the people as a social worker.
Revived “Mukha”
tradition of mask
making
characters, including human faces, animals,
birds, gods, and demons. Hem Chandra Goswami
founded Sukumar Kala Kendra in 1984. More than
100 students have been trained in mask-making
by the Kendra. The masks prepared by them were
displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in
London. Along with teaching this art to children
in India, he also taught it to children in France,
Germany, and Israel. Apart from that, he offers
training in Satriya dance and Bargeet music.
New India Samachar March 16-31, 2023 41