SAHITYA AKADEMI
SAHITYA AKADEMI
The idea of constituting a National Academy
of Letters in India was considered by the colonial British government, and in
1944 a proposal from the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal for the formation of a
'National Cultural Trust' was, in principle, accepted. The original plan
conceived of three institutions, or academies, devoted to the visual arts,
performing arts, and letters. The independent Government of India carried out
this proposal, constituting a National Academy of Letters, called the 'Sahitya
Akademi' by a government resolution on 15 December 1952. The first General
Council of the Akademi included members such as S. Radhakrishnan, Abul Kalam Azad, C. Rajagopalachari, K.M. Panikkar, K.M. Munshi, Zakir Hussain, Umashankar Joshi, Mahadevi Varma, D. V. Gundappa, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, and
was presided over by the then-Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. The Government of India clarified that the
choice of Prime Minister Nehru as the first Chairperson was "not because
he is Prime Minister, but because he has carved out for himself a distinctive
place as a writer and author."The Sahitya Akademi was formally inaugurated on 12 March
1954 in New Delhi. In a ceremony held in the Indian Parliament's
Central Hall, with speeches by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and S. Radhakrishnan. S.
Radhakrishnan elaborated on the purpose of the Sahitya Akademi in his speech,
noting that,
Sahitya Akademi :- India's
National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion
of literature in the languages of India. Founded
on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian
government and situated at Rabindra Bhavan near Mandi House in Delhi.The Sahitya Akademi organises national and regional
workshops and seminars; provides research and travel grants to authors;
publishes books and journals, including the Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature;
and presents the annual Sahitya Akademi Award of
Rs. 100,000 (approx. USD 1,500 ( as in year 2013) in each of the 24 languages
it supports, as well as the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship for
lifetime achievement.
The Sahitya Akademi Library is one of the largest
multi-lingual libraries in India, with a rich collection of books on literature
and allied subjects. Also it publishes two bimonthly literary journals - Indian Literature in
English and Samkaleen Bharatiya Sahitya in Hindi.
The idea of constituting a National Academy
of Letters in India was considered by the colonial British government, and in
1944 a proposal from the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal for the formation of a
'National Cultural Trust' was, in principle, accepted. The original plan
conceived of three institutions, or academies, devoted to the visual arts,
performing arts, and letters. The independent Government of India carried out
this proposal, constituting a National Academy of Letters, called the 'Sahitya
Akademi' by a government resolution on 15 December 1952. The first General
Council of the Akademi included members such as S. Radhakrishnan, Abul Kalam Azad, C. Rajagopalachari, K.M. Panikkar, K.M. Munshi, Zakir Hussain, Umashankar Joshi, Mahadevi Varma, D. V. Gundappa, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, and
was presided over by the then-Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. The Government of India clarified that the
choice of Prime Minister Nehru as the first Chairperson was "not because
he is Prime Minister, but because he has carved out for himself a distinctive
place as a writer and author."The Sahitya Akademi was formally inaugurated on 12 March
1954 in New Delhi. In a ceremony held in the Indian Parliament's
Central Hall, with speeches by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and S. Radhakrishnan. S.
Radhakrishnan elaborated on the purpose of the Sahitya Akademi in his speech,
noting that,
The
phrase, Sahitya Akademi, combines two words. Sahitya is Sanskrit, and
'Academy' is Greek. This name suggests our universal outlook and aspiration.
Sahitya is a literary composition; Academy is an assembly of men who are
interested in the subject. So Sahitya Akademi will be an assembly of all those
who are interested in creative and critical literature. It is the purpose of
this Akademi to recognise men of achievement in letters, to encourage men of
promise in letters, to educate public taste and to improve standards of
literature and literary criticism.
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