Padma Shri Haldhar Nag

Padma Shri Dr Haldhar Nag is a Sambalpuri poet and writer from Bargarh, Odisha, popularly known as "Lok Kabi Ratna", the gem among folk poets. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2016 and received an honorary doctorate in literature from Sambalpur University in 2019.

In 2020, Haldhar Nag Ka Kavya-Sansar, translations of his work from Sambalpuri into Hindi by the writer and translator Dinesh Kumar Mali, was released and discussed at length by participants from India and abroad during a two-day international seminar organised by Professor Jaishankar Babu, Head of the Department of Hindi at Pondicherry University, under the guidance of Vice-Chancellor Professor Gurmeet Singh. In 2021, under the joint editorship of Professor Jaishankar Babu and Dinesh Kumar Mali, Haldhar ke Lok-Sahitya par Vimarsh and Ramayan Prasangon par Haldhar ke Kavya aur Yugin Vimarsh were published by Pandulipi Prakashan, New Delhi.