Indian President Droupadi Murmu presented the award to the devoted practitioner of Rabindra Sangeet, the Indian High Commission in Dhaka revealed in a Facebook post on Monday (April 22). Earlier on January 25, the names of this year’s winners were announced in New Delhi, Ranjan Sen, the First Secretary (Press) of the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata, told Somoy. The Government of India regularly awards the Padma Shri every year before the country’s Republic Day for contributions in various fields of the country. For the past few years, prominent people from Bangladesh have been included in the award. Now the renowned artist Rezwana Chowdhury Bannya has joined that list.Bannya was born in the Patuakhali district. A former student at Chhayanaut and Visva-Bharati University in India, Bannya established her own music education institute named ‘Surer Dhara’.She has released many albums so far. These include ‘Shopner Abeshe’, ‘Bhorer Akashe’, ‘Shokal Sanjhe’, ‘Elam Notun Deshe', ‘Laguk Hawa’, and ‘Gethechinu Anjali', etc.In her illustrious career, Bannya received numerous awards for her outstanding contributions to music, including the ‘Independence Award’, the country's highest state award. She also received the Feroza Begum Smriti Shorno Padak, Citycell-Channel i Music Award, and Ananda Sangeet Award.