Wednesday 14 October 2015

The Sahitya Akademi, its Awards and Awardees


The Sahitya Akademi has never been in the news like now, not even during its awards ceremony. That is because, as you know, scores of authors who won literary awards from the Akademi have ‘returned’ the awards, citing some reasons. Are they doing the right thing?

Let me say it upfront.  No crime is to be condoned, especially by the police or the State.  If a law defining an act as crime is itself abominable or seriously unfair, you may criticise the law and demand its revocation– and that is a different issue.

More than twenty Indian writers have announced one after another they are ‘returning’ awards Sahitya Akademi conferred on them for their works in the past. They explain it is their way of denouncing recent criminal assaults on dalits, minorities and rationalists or of faulting the Akademi for not itself protesting against such incidents. Some have said they are doing it to oppose religious intolerance and to stand by freedom of expression.  Reports say seven of the returned awards were earned at least 15 years back, one of them 40 (yes, FORTY) years ago. 

What does a literary award mean? It marks the merit of an author’s work. It helps the author, and the reading public. If the award-giving body commands respect, the honour benefits the writer and the reader even more.  The publisher too gets a push. All the beneficiaries of a good award should get their due within a few years, and something more automatically flows later too.  If an author accepts an award and returns it later – 5 or 40 years later- for reasons cited now, surely the writer does not mean it was wrongly given earlier. Nor would the later act strengthen his or her condemnation of any crime occurring in society at any time.

Is returning a literary award for such reasons any sacrifice?  Certainly not, as anyone would feel. The returning, if at all, brings new media spotlight on the writer, reminding more of the public about the distinction he or she earned before. Also, an award-giving body cannot take back its award for the reasons now being stated for surrendering them.  So, the awards returned have come to stay more prominently.  For some, it is the award that returns

Keeping law and order, or even road traffic, in good shape is not something for which India is well known. Crimes are common, even notorious, in some states.  If you have not been a victim of minor or major crimes, thank your stars and not the State. This is not said flimsily.  Just look at the number and frequency of rapes of women and girl children being committed across the country, terrorist offences still taking place in some parts of India and the general nation-wide fear and distrust of the police forces by law-abiding citizens and a resultant insecure feeling in everyone - with India’s abundant poor persons trembling more in their hearts when they see a policeman near them. These scenes are enough to remind us that our freedom belongs more to the legal world than real life.  If people affected or likely to be affected in these situations cannot talk about it openly, that is the actual lack of freedom of expression in India. But the returning authors have not pointed to these long-time grave issues as the cause of their acts – not that I feel that would justify giving back their prizes.

We know that the Sahitya Akademi is not a part of the government.  It is a separate body formed and functioning under a law which regulates societies, and many apartment owners’ associations work in a similar way. If the Akademi does an act contradicting its chief functions, or if it selects some absolutely meritless book for an award, even then all writers may fault the institution, and no prior awardee need return an award.  When it is not even the job of the Akademi to prevent criminal assaults on any persons – including those committed out of religious or caste hatred - why should Akademi awards be returned, faulting the Akademi?  If such crimes are not prevented, when preventable, or if they are not swiftly and impartially investigated to bring the offenders to justice should the Akademi take the blame or should the failing police officers and the concerned state home minister or chief minister face the music?  The protesting award winners are barking up the wrong tree.

Look at this scenario.  We know all sorts of crimes are rife in some African countries, and terror freely stalks those lands.  There could be a literary society in a country over there, announcing an award for a local author.  If the writer accepts it, should he or she return the award the next week to protest some atrocity occurring nearby?  And should that literary society be busy condemning those crimes?  If it routinely denounces all criminal acts happening around, does it not expose its governing body to risk of attacks by mad men– possibly with guns and bombs?  The sense of insecurity among Indians may not be as high, but anyone serving a literary society in India would wish to be sensibly cautious.

The action of the Akademi awardees looks presumptuous and somewhat hollow, from another point of view. They have not come out with clarity on their concerns about ‘religious intolerance’ and ‘freedom of expression’ – especially about who is not tolerating, what is not being tolerated and who is curbing whose freedom.  Even if those concerns are valid and well grounded, they should be shared by other groups too who are interested in the democratic way of life, like judges, lawyers, opposition parties including their lawmakers and academicians.  Should these people also be protesting as the returning awardees do, and return all they could in like manner? Performing artistes, businessmen, doctors, chartered accountants and women and children are also vitally benefited by public order, freedom and democracy.  Should they protest too?

Come to the global situation. Without doubt, every day more injustice, suppression and horrendous criminal acts take place around the world than in India. What should the institutions awarding Nobel prizes, and the Nobel awardees, be doing amidst all this?  I hope the returning awardees of India would agree that those august bodies and the Nobel laureates should just get on with their work and leave the ills of the world to be tackled by agencies charged with fighting those maladies. If those agencies fail in their jobs the action needed is just revamping them with right officers. That is what we need to do in India, but don’t do most of the time.

        Finally, if it makes sense for Indian writers to return previously conferred literary awards, and for the reasons we learn, it should also make sense for yet-to-be-awarded writers here with similar views to declare they would not, for like reasons that always abound in our country, accept any award in future until they are firmly and permanently remedied.  But then, it does not make sense this way or that way.


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Copyright © R. Veera Raghavan 2015


18 comments:

  1. very well said . All these persons are doing this to get publicity for themselves than for the reasons they claim to have for returning the awards . Few years back Satyam -Rama linga Raju was awarded best business man by E & Y and then aftr that award , confessed to the biggest corporate fraud in indian history .Now , should E & Y stop giving such award ? or should all other businessmen boycott such E & Y award ?.

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  2. Madras University has not condemned the incident. Do I have to surrrender the B.A.degree? Also Madurai Kamaraj University has not condemned the incident. Should I also surrender my Post Graduate degree in Gandhian Thought? (... Don't think I am publicising my degrees!) ( Am I also being frivolous?)

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  3. I have been watching this development with awe tempered by amusement. Surrender of an award is an expression of disapproval, the way Gurudev surrendered the knighthood. Awe. Indirect disapproval like this and that too a concerted drive: amusement.

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  4. I received a mail from a friend of mine:
    Subject: A commentary on current media space

    My Public Declaration:
    I am so much disturbed by what is happening in India today that I am returning the 1st prize tiffin box won by me in the Spoon-Lemon competition in the 4th standard in my school. (Of course I will not return the Rs.100/- cash prize I got... because I already spent that.)
    Please don't ask me about the all the religious riots,1984 Sikh massacre, Godhra train arson, Mumbai Blasts, Kashmiri Pandit holocaust, 26/11 Mumbai attack etc. that happened since I won the prize.
    TODAY I badly need publicity as the new generation doesn’t know me. (And I don't need the tiffin box anyway.)
    Any journalist or TV channel wants to take my interview, please WhatsApp your cell number, I will contact them asap..
    This explains the hollowness of returning the awards!
    Narasiah

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    1. He he... well said :). Perhaps there should be a category to return awards of any kind? There surely will be winners!

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  5. An author is expected to write and build up an opinion about whatever is disturbing him or her. To return an award is highly presumptuous. It presumes that the world will be shocked and shaken by this act and that the nation's progress will be halted. It amounts to saying to the nation, "I did you a favour by accepting the award, but you don't deserve such favour. So I am returning it!"

    If they are powerful thinkers and authors, let them mold the public opinion rather than sitting in Tv channels and snivel.

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  6. The absurdity of returning awards is brought out nicely and in a satirical way by Sri K.R A Narasiah . . If the awardees are so sensitive they should have two bullet points 1) They should have the award with them ,dust them and 2)They should surrender it to the Akademi which should place it in a museum .The names of such returnees should be barred from . any future consideration of awards.

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  7. Returning of awards apart from being the height of stupidity is for publicity- nothing else. Why did these GREAT writers not return these awards when Pakistani sponsored Terrorists were heaping destruction & killing in a massive way in India? Rtg awards is motivated & is a publicity stunt mostly by "Sickularists". They have no real interest in the nation or its welfare but are publicity mongers. Period.

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  8. Hello sir,
    You have raised some interesting points here - that the academy itself is not a law enforcing body and should not be targeted for the issues concerning the writers' death. But I reckon, awardees are just trying to make a point - to mark their protest - I would say something akin to a fast. Perhaps, we should just take it as a means to mark their protest against the government, and a means of spurning the concerned authorities into action - to provide better security to members of their community ?

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  9. Well, i would not be completely in agreement with your views. Yes, some aspects of it need to be considered but the fact is that we all need to stand up to the intolerance that is being shown by many in the present government. Nothing like this has ever happened in the past. The very fact that such actions has given us an opportunity to comment on their action and hence bringing about a larger awareness to a very frightening situation is commendable. Could we just step back and think about it, i am sure no one would ever want to return an award especially of such importance. Hence, returning these awards does certainly have some impact on the Establishment. I personally appreciate this action and i don't think that this action is going to give them any extra publicity.

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  10. I read the blog The Sahitya Akademi, its Awards and Awardees with a lot of interest and concern. There are different ways of looking an act or a series of acts and responses to the same. You have expressed your response to a set of ongoing acts from one perspective. In as much as readers may agree or disagree with your response, they can also look at the acts to which you have responded from different perspectives. My perspective is different. Writers, whether honoured by the Sahitya Akademi or not, are part of those who are expected to hold a mirror to the society through their writings. They can also do so by other means such as returning awards. They, like certain academics, are expected to strengthen and expand the civil society. Those who are active in the domain of civil society are otherwise known as public intellectuals. I strongly feel that protests are very important for good governance and social harmony in a plural society like ours. The social sensitivity which protests may generate is expected to make those who govern to introspect. There may not be any visible or immediate response. People can also critique governance without returning awards. I do not attach much importance to awards per se. As Sahitya Akademi is very much a creation of the State by returning its awards in protest the writers send an important message to the state and society. If I tweet or express my views on some issues it is not for money or recognition, but as part of critiquing state and society.

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    1. I appreciate your perspective. That said, awards are meant to recognize contributions. Things that caused people to return these awards is not something that happened overnight, irrespective of whether one feel these events are good, bad or indifferent. No one would agree that the events that triggered the return happened all of a sudden. It just does not make sense to return the award. However, if these people who returned the award used the platform of Sahitya Akademi to make an impact and improve the outcome that would have been very laudable by everyone. Something to think about.

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  11. Para 7 explains the status of the Sahitya Akademi.There is nothing that it can do to stop social disorders or crimes.Then why find fault with it by returning the awards-after basking in the glory that followed the announcement of the awards!

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  12. PSSIVASUBRAMANIAN, CAREFUL READING WILL DO U GOOD (INCLUDING MY COMMENT) BEFORE U RUSH TO POST YOUR COMMENT. HERE IS ALL ABOUT THE AKADEMI:
    The proposal to establish a National Academy of letters in India had been under the consideration of the British Government of the country long before independence. In 1944, the Government of India accepted in principle a proposal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal that a National Cultural trust should be set up to encourage cultural activities in all fields. The trust was to consist of three Academies, including the Academy of letters. After freedom, the proposal was pursued by the independent Government of India, while convened a series of conference to work out the details. Consensus emerged in favour of establishing three National Academies one of letters, another of visual arts and the third of dance, drama and music. But deference of opinion persisted whether the Government should take the initiative and establish the Academies or whether it should wait for the advent of individuals who had the necessary moral authority to establish the Academies. Abul Kalam Azad the union minister of education, was of the opinion that "if we had waited for the Academy to grow up from below, we might have had to wait till the Greek Kalends". It was felt that there was no alternative to Government taking the initiative to set up the Academies. The Government's functioning in the process was to be that of a curtain raiser. The Government would set up the Academies, but once they were established, it would refrain from exercising any control and leave them to perform their function as autonomous institution. The Government of India decided to establish a National Academy of letters to be called Sahitya Akademi by its resolution … dated December 1952.
    The Sahitya Akademi 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 organisation to work actively for the development of Indian letters and to set high literary standards, to foster and co-ordinate literary activities in all the Indian languages and to promote through them all the cultural unity of the country…
    Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters 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. Over the 56 years of its dynamic existence, it has ceaselessly endeavored to promote good taste and healthy reading habits, to keep alive the intimate dialogue among the various linguistic and literary zones and groups through seminars, lectures, symposia, discussions, readings and performances, to increase the pace of mutual translations through workshops and individual assignments and to develop a serious literary culture through the publications of journals, monographs, individual creative works of every genre, anthologies, encyclopedias, dictionaries, bibliographies, who's who of writers and histories of literature. It has so for brought out over 6000 books, the present pace of publication being one book every 19 hours. Every year the Akademi holds at least 50 seminars at regional, national and international levels along with the workshops and literary gatherings-about 300 in number per year, under various heads like …
    Akademi gives 24 awards annually to literary works in the languages it has recognized and an equal number of awards to literary translations from and into the languages of India, both after a year long process of scrutiny, discussion and selection. It also gives special awards called Bhasha Samman to significant contribution to the languages not formally recognized by the Akademi as also for contribution to classical and medieval literature ..

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  13. i am in agreement with your views....

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  14. The facade that is playing out in media is a cruel joke in a country which is desperate for jobs, progress, and development and for a rightful place in the global order. If an alien were air dropped in India today, he would think before May 2014, India was a land of milk and honey, there were no communal riots, love and harmony was overflowing and we lived in some kind of Utopian existence. The first Prime Minister of India, Jawahar Lal Nehru in fact brought in first amendment of Indian Constitution which ensures that Free speech will always remain a casualty in India. When the constitution itself puts restrictions on absolute free speech it is only natural that erosion will happen. It was this first Amendment that brought about a gag to free speech, free thinking and free action. Ban on Satanic Verses, Taslima Nasreen, Several Movies, innumerable books, countless plays so on and so forth. Politics is playing its dirty game ably abetted and assisted by the NewsTraders, mostly visual TV channels, and by a left fringe which gets ignored deliberately for obvious reasons. With a new Government taking the mantle in Delhi, unwanted and bulging organizations were thriving in our country afer being well nurtured and nourished by us poor Tax Payers. The NAC, The Sahitya Academy, 18,000 odd NGOs, Minority and Caste Commissions so on and so forth were thriving in our country eating fatly into the exchequer bulk. The Modi Government began dismantling such impractical and non functional organizations while some were downsized. Sahitya Academy fell into that category.With adverse budgetary cuts implemented and many portfolios redeemed, plenty of these Academians found themselves without the perks and privileges they hitherto enjoyed. And since many of them [mind you, not all] were recipients of the Academy out of sheer favoritism, they feared that their days were neared too. Therefore, this act of returning Awards was a calculated remission from shame. Moreover, they were favored by political nomads desperately searching for an identity.

    There is a concerted effort by all the powerless brokers to degrade our country by branding it intolerable. That these intolerances existed from times immemorial seems deliberately forgotten to instigate a harmful political agenda that might just break up the country. When the Presstitutes, Pseudo-Seculars and Intellectual Academians push their agenda with manufactured disdain and contempt, they little realize that at the receiving end is a majority community tolerating it with a confused state of mind little realizing what their role is in this whole fiasco. The danger lies in there exactly. When this sustained push becomes a shove, an energy of retaliation is bound to emerge at least within a segment of the innocent society. That could prove fatal. The political wing of the Hindus, with 31% vote share already safely entrusted with them and its leader, Modi, would gain rapid grounds from other liberal Hindus too and nourish BJP with a baffling percentage of vote share far exceeding anybody's guess. Though I personally wish for a day like that to come by, it would be a certain blemish to our democracy because such rapid increase has its share of destruction too. At this point in time, Bihar Assembly Elections stands the litmus test for BJP. If it wins there, rest assured, the trend is set for a Hindu unity which will cascade dominantly to all forthcoming Assembly elections. There will be ascending acrimony by all concerned until then. Let us take each day as it passes and see whether the present Government wins or succumbs to manufactured lies.

    Thanks for a wonderful read.

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  15. Here is something to think about: Returning a reward has sent a very wrong message to the country -- protest everything and keep protesting. A sure way to turn a democracy into a demon-o-crazy. The results of such a protest hungry, protest crazy society are for everyone to see. Instead why not initiate and drive change. Ah! it is harder isn't it? It is easier to throw away than to nurture and build on the recognition.

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  16. Our so-called intellectuals... are they returning the money as well? The media blows things out of proportion and projects these individuals as some kind of heroes.

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