Urmila Srivastava
A Mirzapur kajri singer with five decades on radio and Doordarshan who taught music for forty years, honoured with the Padma Shri in 2024.
Urmila Srivastava is a singer of kajri, the monsoon folk songs of eastern Uttar Pradesh, and other folk songs of the region. She was named for the Padma Shri in 2024 in the field of art, from Uttar Pradesh [1].
Against the odds
She was born on 28 October 1949 and lost her parents when she was young [2]. She had to raise her three younger brothers while continuing her own schooling, and still followed her love of music [2].
Singer and teacher
She has sung on All India Radio, Allahabad, and Doordarshan for more than fifty years [2]. For over forty years she taught music at Arya Kanya Inter College in Mirzapur, and she has led workshops on folk singing for thousands of students [2].
She has represented India at the Festival of India in Bhutan in 2003 and the World Bhojpuri Conference in Mauritius in 2009, and has performed at festivals across Uttar Pradesh [2]. She has also served on All India Radio’s music audition board [2].
Her honours include the Bhikhari Thakur Samman (2006) and the Uttar Pradesh Sangeet Natak Akademi’s Akademi Ratna Samman (2023) [2].
Sources
- [1] Padma Awards 2024: list of awardees — Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Accessed 15 October 2026.
- [2] Padma Awards 2024: citation for Urmila Srivastava — Padma Awards, Government of India. Accessed 15 October 2026.
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