In news– The Sahitya Akademi announced its awards for 2021 for literary works in 20 languages, including novels in Assamese and English.
Awards for 2021-
- As per the national academy of letters seven books of poetry, five of short stories, two plays, one each of biography, autobiography, criticism and epic poetry had won the Sahitya Akademi Awards 2021.
- The awards for works in Gujarati, Maithili, Manipuri and Urdu would be announced at a later date.
- Among the winners for poetry were Namita Gokhale(English),Anuradha Sarma Pujari (Assamese), Mwdai Gahai (Bodo), Sanjiv Verenkar (Konkani), Hrushikesh Mallick (Odia), Meethesh Nirmohi (Rajasthani), Vindeshwariprasad Mishr ‘Vinay’ (Sanskrit), Arjun Chawla (Sindhi) and Gorati Venkanna (Telugu).
- Books of short stories by writers Raj Rahi (Dogri), Kiran Gurav (Marathi), Khalid Hussain (Punjabi), Niranjan Hansda (Santali) and Ambai (Tamil) were among those chosen for the awards.
- Aseer Kashtawari in Kashmiri and a book of epic poetry by Chhabilal Upadhyaya in Nepali were awarded as well.
- Two plays — by Bratya Basu in Bengali and Daya Prakash Sinha in Hindi — were selected for the award.
- The award includes a casket containing an engraved copper plaque, a shawl and an amount of Rs 1,00,000.
- It also gave Yuva Puraskar award and Bal Sahitya Puraskar for the year 2021.
About Sahitya Akademi (India’s National Academy of Letters)-
- It was formally inaugurated by the Government of India on 12 March 1954.
- The Government of India Resolution, which set forth the constitution of the Akademi, described it as a national organization to work actively for the development of Indian letters and to set high literary standards to foster and co-ordinate literary activities in the Indian languages and to promote through them the cultural unity of the country.
- Though set up by the Government, the Akademi functions as an autonomous organization.
- It was registered as a society on 7 January 1956, under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
- The Akademi preserves and promotes literature contained in twenty four Indian languages recognised by it through Awards, Fellowships, and grants, Publications, Literary Programmes, Workshops and Exhibitions.
- It also undertakes literary exchange programmes with various countries across the globe to promote Indian literature beyond the shores of India.
- It is the central institution for literary dialogue, publication and promotion in the country and the only institution that undertakes literary activities in 24 Indian languages, including English and Rajasthani.
- It also gives special awards called Bhasha Samman for significant contribution to the languages not formally recognized by the Akademi as also for contribution to classical and medieval literature.
- The Akademi has launched Centres for Translation in Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Delhi, and an Archive of Indian Literature in Delhi.
Source: The Hindu
