NEW DELHI: The late sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar is to receive the first 'Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony' instituted by the Government of India.

President Pranab Mukherjee announced the award as he addressed the first joint sitting of the budget session of Parliament today.

During 2012, government commemorated the 150th Birth Anniversaries of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, Madan Mohan Malaviya and  Motilal Nehru apart from undertaking preparatory work for observing the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda and the centenary of the Gadar movement.

A new international award, namely the 'Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony', has been instituted and the first award will be given posthumously to late Pandit Ravi Shankar. A national mission for libraries commenced its work last year.

The maestro, who passed away on 11 December 2012 at the age of 92,  received the Lifetime Achievement Grammy award and the Best World Music Album award for The Living Room Sessions Part 1 this year.  The awards were jointly accepted by his daughters, sitarist Anoushka Shankar and singer-songwriter Norah Jones.

Three-time Grammy winner Pt Shankar is credited with introducing Indian classical music to the West. He was a profound influence on The Beatles, The Byrds and numerous other rock artists.

Pt Ravi Shankar, along with George Harrison, organised the 1971concert for Bangladesh, which paved the way for many other fundraising charity concerts.