The conference will be inaugurated by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. It will also be attended by leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi and Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Dr Raghunath Mashelkar, according to a release here today.

A symposium on `Marathi Mind and 21st Century', besides seminars on `Entrepreneurship: The Marathi People' and `The Emerging Scientific Challenges of the New Millennium' will be organised during the two-day meet, the release said.

Eminent scholar, researcher and writer Dr S R Kulkarni, vocalist Malinibai Rajurkar, freedom fighter Govindbhai Shroff, stage actor-director Prabhakar Panshikar and dancer Sucheta Bhide-Chapekar will be honoured for their outstandingcontribution to their respective fields, the release added.