Veteran Sculptor Ram Sutar Chosen for Maharashtra Bhushan Award 2024

100 year old veteran Sculptor Ram Sutar has been chosen for the highest civilian award of the Maharashtra government ‘Maharashtra Bhushan’ 2024 . This was announced by the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the state legislative assembly on 20th March 2025. 

Ram Sutar was unanimously chosen for this award by a committee headed by the Chief Minister himself.

Accomplishment of Ram Sutar

Dhule born Ram Sutar is a gold medalist from the J.J.School of Art ,Mumbai. He is considered to be a master in Bronze sculpting and has various landmarks to his name.

• He designed the world’s tallest statue ‘The Statue of Unity’ in Kevadia Gujarat. It is an 182-meter-tall statue of India’s first deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Sardar Patel is also known as the Ironman of India or Bismarck of India for his role in the integration of Princely states into India after independence.
• Ram Sutar designed the iconic statue of Mahatma Gandhi in a seated position situated in the Parliament of India. 
• His bust of Mahatma Gandhi has been installed in over 450 cities of the world including Russia, Australia, Great Britain, China Egypt,the United States of America etc. 
• Ram Sutar has also designed the 108-foot-tall statue of Kempa Gowda at Bengulur's Kempegowda International Airport.
• Currently he is designing the statue of Lord Rama for the temple in Ayodhya. Currently In Ayodhya, the statue of Ram Lalla (childhood of Lord Rama) designed by Mysuru based  Arun Yogiraj, has been installed.
• Ram Surat and his son Anil Sutar are currently also designing the statue of Baba Shaeb Ambedkar to be installed at the Indu Mills in Mumbai. 

Awards and Honours for Ram Sutar 

• Ram Sutar was honoured with India’s third highest civilian award Padma Bhushan in 2018.
• He was honoured with the county’s fourth highest civilian award Padma Shri in 1999.
• He also received the 2016 Tagore Award for cultural harmony in 2016.

About the Maharashtra Bhushan Award 

The Maharashtra Bhushan Award was instituted by the Maharashtra government in 1995.

It is the highest civilian award in Maharashtra and is given to a resident of  Maharashtra.

The winners of the award are selected by a committee headed by the Chief Minister.

The award winner is honoured with a memento and a cash prize of Rs 25 lakhs

The first award was given in 1996 to celebrated Marathi writer, actor, and composer Purushottam Laxman Deshpande.

In 2023 the award was conferred to the noted Marathi actor Ashok Saraf.

Past recipients of the awards have been Lata Mangeshkar (1997), Sachin Tendulkar (2001), Bhimsen Joshi (2002), Baba Amte (2004), Ratan Tata (2006) etc.