Gitchandra Tongbra (6 February 1916 – 3 June 1996), popularly known as G. C. Tongbra, was an Indian satirist, poet, playwright and art academic from

Imphal Imphal (; , ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (officially known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the former Kingdom of Manipur, surrounded by a ...

. Born on 6 February 1913 in the Indian state of

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

, Tongbra was known for his socio-realistic plays such as ''Mani Manou'' (1962), '' Matric Pass'' (1964) and ''Upu Baksi'' (1972).

Awards

The

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

awarded him the fourth highest Indian civilian award of

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

in 1975. Four years later, he received the

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

for his play, ''Ngabongkhao'', in 1978. The

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: * Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) * Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) * Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)Ministry o ...

, Government of India, honoured his memories by staging a ''Tongbra Drama Festival'' under the aegis of Ougri Theatre Repertory Manipur on 24 April 2015 which consisted of four selected plays of the dramatist.

References

Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts 1913 births 1996 deaths Poets from Manipur Indian satirists 20th-century Indian poets Indian male dramatists and playwrights Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Meitei People from Imphal Indian male poets 20th-century Indian male writers {{India-writer-stub