A national performing-arts ceremony in New Delhi will recognise 106 young artists selected for the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for 2024 and 2025. Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is scheduled to confer the honours on 19 October at the Meghdoot Complex, Rabindra Bhavan.
The awards cover music, dance and drama, placing performers from different traditions within one national recognition programme. Culture Secretary Vivek Aggarwal will attend as guest of honour, while Sangeet Natak Akademi chairperson Sandhya Purecha will preside over the ceremony, according to the Ministry of Culture announcement.
Sangeet Natak Akademi instituted the Yuva Puraskar in 2006 for artists aged 40 or below. Its General Council selected this combined group for the two award years during a meeting held in New Delhi from 22 to 26 March 2026. Each recipient receives Rs 25,000, a Tamrapatra and an Angavastram.
The announcement is significant because it identifies a large new cohort across India’s performing-arts ecosystem rather than concentrating recognition in a single discipline. The 16 October release announces the ceremony and selection; it does not claim that the awards had already been presented. Any accompanying image should therefore depict the Akademi, the venue or the announced ceremony and must have documented reuse permission.
