Former NERIST professor Debabrata Maji receives Swarna Padak Samman 2026

GUWAHATI, July 4, 2026 — Retired mechanical engineering professor honoured by Bango Sanskriti Sansad for his English poetry collection The Peace, adding to a long list of international literary accolades.

ITANAGAR/KOLKATA, July 4: Dr Debabrata Maji, a retired professor from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST), Nirjuli, Arunachal Pradesh, has been conferred the Swarna Padak Samman 2026 under the Shreshtha Pratibha Samman 2026 category by the Kolkata-based Bango Sanskriti Sansad.

The award was presented for his acclaimed English poetry collection The Peace at a ceremony held at Ajit Sen Bhavan, Esplanade, Kolkata, on June 28. The event was attended by noted literary personalities including Satinath Mukhopadhyay, Pradip Dhar, Samudra Basu, Pijush Ranjan Ghosh and Anindya Dutta.

Born on September 6, 1961, in Deulpur village of West Bengal's Howrah district, Dr Maji pursued a distinguished career in engineering before emerging as a widely recognised poet on the international literary stage. Following his retirement from NERIST, he devoted himself to literature and has since earned numerous national and international honours.

His poems are regularly broadcast by Colombia's Ecos Poeticos Radio. Over the years, he has received several international recognitions, including the Golden Pen Award (Peru), Golden Eagle Award (Spain), Honorary Academician recognition (Rome), Golden Necklace Award (Egypt), Golden Lotus Award (Brazil) and Golden Pendulum Award (Peru).

Dr Maji has also been awarded 20 honorary doctorates and has received several prestigious literary honours, including the Bharat Gaurav Ishan Award, Kabi Ratna Award, Sarat Sahitya Ratna Award, International Kabi Ratna Award, Bango Ratna Award, William Shakespeare Award, Nelson Mandela Award and Poet of Nature Award.

His literary works include nine Bengali poetry collections and four English titles—Dreamscape, The Peace, The Divine Glow and Maxims 500. His writings have appeared in numerous literary journals, newspapers and anthologies in India and abroad.

The latest honour further strengthens Dr Maji's reputation as one of the prominent literary voices to emerge from the Northeast's academic community after retirement.