IMPHAL, June 30: RK Sanatomba Memorial Journalist Award ceremony was held today at the Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy auditorium, Imphal.
“Today’s artist have failed to internalised the violence that has been very much part of the Manipuri reality”, claimed Prof Arambam Lokendra, during the function.
He was delivering a lecture on ‘Violence and Performing Arts in Manipur’.
He said today’s artist lack the capacity to internalise the violence unlike the artists of yesteryears, who were not only gifted with artistic sensibilities, but were also perceptive of the immediate political environment.
He observed that today’s artists are more into running after awards, in the sense that awards are the ultimate artistic goal.
Prof Lokendra was delivering the RK Sanatomba memorial lecture on the latter’s death anniversary, at a jam-packed auditorium of the JND Academy this afternoon.
Ningthouja Lancha highlighting the essence of the function said it is important to recall the works of RK Sanatomba, who during his youthful days had dreamt and worked for the cause of a just society.
He said Sanatomba was a forward looking journalist, whose thoughts were well reflected in the editorials of the journal ‘Kangla Lanpung’ of which he was the editor.
The award was instituted to encourage the journalist of the State, Ningthouja Lancha said during the function.
He said Sanatomba was a victim of misconstrued violence, resultant action of misperception among the armed opposition groups.
Summer edition of the journal ‘Kangla Lanpung’ was also released during the function.
The journal features articles written by Dr Homen Thangjam, Dr H Sukhdev and Malem Ningthouja.
The RK Sanatomba Memorial Journalist Award for investigative journalism was conferred to Hueyen Lanpao’s reporter Meisnam Karanajit for his investigative reporting in 2013.
The award includes a cash prize of Rs 10, 000 and a citation.