Popular singers Shaan and Arijit Singh were given the "Sangeet Mahasamman" award by the West Bengal government at the inaugural session of the Bengal music and folk culture festival held in Kolkata. Legendary singer Sandhya Mukhopadhyay gave away the awards. Leading Bengali singers like Rupankar Bagchi, Raghab Chattopadhyay, Manomoy Bhattacharya, Saikat Mitra, Pratik Chowdhury and music director Debojyoti Mishra were also given the 'Sangeet Mahasamman' awards. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the eight-day Bangla Sangeet Mela(Bengal Music Festival) and Biswa Bangla Lok Sanskriti Utsav( Folk Culture Festival). The government has given cards to two lakh folk artistes or 'Lok Prasar Shilpi', and each of them are given Rs 1,000 as monthly allowance.
