OdishaLIVE Bureau
The second edition of the Shrie Awards organised by the Parichay Foundation is underway at a city hotel in Bhubaneswar. The Shrie awards are given to male achievers in various categories defined by the foundation. The awards celebrate the individuals from the state who have done notable work nationally and internationally. The Shrie awards recipients for the year 2017 are mentioned below:
Shrie Guru Award: Padma Vibhushan Raghunath Mohapatra
He is the doyen of stone sculpture. A Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award of the country, Shri Mohapatra is a pioneer who belongs to a family of sculptors whose ancestors are said to have created the marvel called Konark Temple and the Shri Jagannath Temple at Puri. The “Shilpiguru” first broke into limelight in 1974 when he created a six-foot-tall grey stone statue which is now being displayed in the Central Hall of Parliament.
Lifetime Achievement Award: Dr. Amarendra Khatua
Odisha-born IFS officer and renowned poet Dr. Amarendra Khatua belongs to the 1981 Batch of Indian Foreign Service. During his diplomatic career, he has held Trade and Economic positions in various Indian Missions and he has also served in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Planning Commission and Ministry of Industry. Dr. Khatua assumed charge as Director General, Indian Council for Cultural Relations in September 2016.
Field of Business Leadership & Showmanship: Akshay Kumar Parija
Mr Akshay Kumar Parija is engaged in Shipping, Logistics, Oil Exploration, Hospitality and Consular Services in Dubai, Muscat, Singapore, USA and Africa.As a film maker, he gained international recognition right from his first Odia film ‘Jiaanta Bhoota’ which won six awards in International Festivals and also won the prestigious 56th National Award for the Best Film on Protection/Conservation of Environment. Since then, all his films from ‘Thukul’ to ‘Kehi Nuhen Kahara’ have been on an award winning spree. His first Hindi language Art House film ‘Kadvi Hawa’ with Padmashree Nila Madhab Panda based on an explosive subject of Global Warming and Climatic Change also won the 64th National Award on Special Mention Category from President Pranab Mukherjee.
Field of Medical Science: Dr. Ramaraman Sarangi
Dr. Ramaraman Sarangi, MBBS, MS (Geo Surgery), was the former professor & Head of the Dept. of Cardio, Vascular and Thoracic Surgery at S.C.B. Medical, Cuttack and also the former Principal of S.C.B. Medical College, Cuttack. Dr. Sarangi was instrumental in starting Open Heart Surgery, Vascular Surgery and Limb re-implantation Surgery in Odisha. In 2007, for the first time in the country, an abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery by tube graft replacement was performed on a child of seven years by Dr. Sarangi. He has started two open heart units in the state, one in Govt. sector in S.C.B. Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack and another in private sector that is Sarangi Clinic & Research Centre Pvt. Ltd., Cuttack. Currently, he is on a mission to make Open Heart surgery available to the poor patients of Odisha at a cheap cost.
Field of Social Service: Sanyas Behera 
Sanyas Kumar Behera is an OAS officer. To put it aptly, he is the first ever OAS officer with100 percent visual impairment. He secured 220th rank in the exam results of which were announced earlier in February. A known disability rights activist, Behera fought work for the cause without any government support. He fought against shortage of Braille books and in fact fought more than 200 cases in different courts of the country to bring justice for the neglected sections of the PWD. He founded the cricket association of the visually impaired and the Odisha Blind Chess Association to ensure the right to sport and recreation for persons with visually impairment and promote them to international levels.
Field of Education: Dr. R.N. Barik
Age, health and financial status notwithstanding, Dr. R.N. Barik runs a residential English medium school for the poor tribal students in his village Padmapur of Balasore district. Dr. Barik started his career as a Hindi teacher in Barapur High School (Bhadrak district). But he always associated himself with social activities too. He fought for the cause of teachers when he was elected as Vice President of All India Kendriya Vidyalaya Teachers Association in 2003. Initially, he used his own salary to start the school and later got help from various sources as the school grew from 22 students to 150 students in a few years. Having invested all his retirement money to build the school infrastructure, it is because of his efforts that many children for whom education was a dream are living a new reality today.
Field of NRO (Promoting Odia Art & Culture Abroad): Dr. Bimal Mishra
Director of Software Engineering at TFI Corporation, Dr. Bimal Mishra provides technical leadership to deliver product and feature roadmaps for the health care related applications for the Department of Health. In the past, he has served American Institute for Research and Amtrak. He has been an active member of OSA for the last 20 years and has supported the OSA activities to promote Odia Culture in North America. He served as OSA Washington DC chapter president from the year 2014 to 2016. During his presidency, OSA’s first ever Global Convention was conducted in Washington DC area where representatives from many countries participated to build a stronger and effective Global Odia Community.
Field of Media: Mr. Manoranjan Mishra
One of the youngest editors leading a news channel in the state, Manoranjan Mishra is man with a finger on the pulse of Odisha. He is an opinion maker who decides what headlines trend in Odisha journalism. With about 18 years of experience in media industry, his razor sharp tongue has made many of Odisha’s high and mighty uncomfortable and accountable. His in-depth, comprehensive and exhaustive analysis of burning topics of the day is what people seek at the end of the day. From Khola Katha to Manoranjan Mishra LIVE, he is a vociferous voice of change, who works for the interest of the people of Odisha.
Field of Environment Conservation Education: Dr. Siba Prasad Parida
Dr Siba Prasad Parida wears many hats. Teacher, researcher, biologist, natural history educator and conservationist, he is rolled into one and many more. His greatest and most famous contribution include osteological preparation of five large whales, six dolphins, one elephant, a black rhino, two huge crocodiles and hundreds of smaller animals and birds at display at Regional Museum of Natural History, Bhubaneswar and Mysore. Besides, guiding students for research, Dr Parida teaches wildlife biology to the Forestry students of OUAT. He is credited with publications of 109 abstracts, 51 posters, 22 international peer reviewed research papers and 2 books.
Field of Entertainment: Chandrasekhar Rath
Mr. Chandrasekhar Rath, a graduate from BPFTIO, came to Mumbai in 1997 and started his career as a cinematographer. Seven years later, he started his production house Rajalaxmi Film Productions. In the last 12 years, Rajalaxmi Productions has produced more than 250 commercial ads, telefilms, corporate films, animation projects and features too. The same year and for the same festival, he also won the ‘Best Cinematography’ Award for his feature film ‘Blue Mountains’. As a film maker, Chandrasekhar is first Odia to also direct Sachin Tendulkar for a film of SAVE THE CHILDREN on child malnutrition. This film got jury mention award in 4th Noida International Film Festival.
Field of Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Mr. Amarendra Sahu, Mr. Smurti Ranjan Parida & Mr. Jitendra Jagadev (NestAway Technologies)
Smruti Ranjan Parida is the co-founder of NestAway Technologies, and is also its Chief Technology Officer. With a B.Tech degree from NIT Surathkal, Smruti began his entrepreneurial journey by co-founding Zero Heights Technologies Pvt Ltd. NestAway was formed to make living better with a focus on single people. The founders wanted to create the largest company that is responsible for making living conditions better. They wanted to enter the largest rental market space in India. The whole idea was not just about renting a house, but also the furniture and beyond. Anything that user would want could be rented through the company.
Field of Sports: Pramod Bhagat
Para-badminton world champion Pramod Bhagat is the elder son of late Kailash Bhagat from Attabira in Bargarh district. He started playing badminton at the age of 15 at a club in Attabira and came to light when he bagged gold medal in the IBAD World Championship, 2009 held in Seoul, South Korea. He has won 25 gold medals, 13 silvers and one bronze in National Para Badminton Championships from 2006 to 2015. He also bagged double bronze in the Asian Para-Badminton Championship held at Beijing, China in November 2016. Despite his disability, his passion for the sport has helped him overcome all challenges in life.
Special Mention Award: Mr. Sanjat Kumar Mishra
Sanjat Kumar Mishra runs a design firm named UX Interface which recently handled the social media promotion of the biggest Indian film of all times, Baahubali in UK in association with Hamsini Entertainment. UX Interface, in fact, was also adjudged among the best 10 Design Startup in INDIA 2017, awarded by Startupcity (Silicon India). It was also adjudged among the best 30 startups across domain in INDIA 2017 by Insight Success. Born and brought up in Balangir, he worked in corporate sector for a long time before starting his own design firm.
Field of CSR- Mahanadi Coalfields Limited
Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) is one of the major coal producing company of India. It is one of the eight subsidiaries of Coal India Limited. Mahanadi Coalfields Limited was carved out of South Eastern Coalfields Limited in 1992 with its headquarters at Sambalpur. It has its coal mines spread across Odisha It has total seven open cast mines and three underground mines under its fold. MCL is dedicated to socio-economic upliftment of underprivileged of the society, particularly in our peripheral areas in Sundergarh, Jharsuguda, Angul and Sambalpur districts of Odisha.
