The government has announced the Prime Minister National Talent Award to honour individuals for their contributions to peace, governance, innovation, scientific research, and development.

The award was announced at the main ceremony of the National Democracy Day at Tundikhel on Wednesday.

Dr Tshering Lama (Sindhupalchok) has been recognised for telemedicine, Dr Biraj Singh Thapa (Morang) for technological innovation, Purnima Shrestha (Gorkha) for mountaineering, and Abhash Maskey (Kathmandu) and Hariram Shrestha (Gorkha) for science and technology.

In the medical field, Dr Om Murti Anil (Mahottari) will be awarded, while Sabitra Bhandari (Lamjung) was recognised for sports, Rabindra Puri (Bhaktapur) for heritage conservation, and Dilshova Shrestha (Kathmandu) and Ramji Adhikari (Gorkha) for humanitarian and social service.

The prime minister’s secretariat said a special ceremony will be held to distribute the awards.

The Cabinet established the award on December 3, 2018, to encourage innovation. It was funded with $100,000 received by then-Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli from the South Korean government, with the government adding Rs100 million to create the award fund.

It was decided that two talents would be awarded each year with a cash prize of Rs500,000 each. In 2019, the award was presented to three talents in two categories for the first time. However, the distribution could not take place afterwards due to the Covid-19 pandemic.