Sahitya Akademi forms committee to review govt’s new mandate
The Sahitya Akademi has formed a committee to review the central government's recommendations for changes in the award selection process, following protests from the literary community. Meanwhile, the Akademi has announced the winners for the children and youth categories for 2023, sticking with tradition.
The Sahitya Akademi has decided to set up a committee to consider the central government’s recommendations for changes in the award selection process. The decision was taken at the general council (GC) meeting of the body, held in New Delhi on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Akademi declared the winners in the children and youth categories for 2023, sticking with the Akademi’s established norm.
The Union Ministry of Culture had recently expressed its intent to change the process of nomination for the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award, given to writers in 24 languages, as well as its plan to consolidate awards bestowed upon writers for children and youth into a single category. This created a stir within the literary community, with many insisting that the government’s move will translate into direct meddling in the institution’s work. In addition, if this goes unopposed, chances are it may be replicated in similar institutions across the country, they feared. HT had reported the repercussions of the government’s mandate on June 20.
“After an hour-long meeting of the GC we decided to appoint a committee to review the government’s recommendations, based on which the future course of action will be taken,” said a GC member, and added that the power to appoint committees is given to the president of the Akademi.
Meanwhile, on Friday, the government announced awards for 2023 in the children and youth categories. In the former category, the jury had selected 22 writers while in the latter 20 were listed, from across the country. Anirudh Kanisetti, a historian and writer, secured an award in the youth category for English, and Vishakha Vishwanath was given an award for Marathi. Sudha Murthy’s book series ‘Grandparents’ Bag of Stories’ was selected from the children’s literature category. Also, Mumbai-based poet Eknath Awhad was selected for his book of poems, titled ‘Chhand Dei Aanand’ in the same category.