Veteran vocalist Pandit Jasraj will be honoured with the Sumitra Charat Ram Award for Lifetime Achievement in a ceremony here Nov 17, organisers said Friday.

 

 The award was instituted in 2011 in the memory of art patron Sumitra Charat Ram, who founded the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra (SBKK) in 1952.

 

 The 84-year-old Padma Vibhushan recipient will be felicitated by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in a ceremony at the Kamani auditorium.

 

 The event also marks the commencement of the year-long celebrations to commemorate Charat Ram's 100th birth anniversary.

 

 To keep alive her mother's memory, Shobha Deepak Singh, director SBKK, instituted this award and it is alternatively given to musicians and dancers with at least 30 years of art practice.

 

 "I initiated the award to create a benchmark that custodians of Indian cultural forms will value, carrying forward global legacies that have taken birth in India," said Shobha Deepak Singh in a statement.

 

 Earlier, the award has been given to stalwarts like Pandit Birju Maharaj, Kishori Amonkar and Mayadhar Raut.