Question : INSTITUTING INTERNATIONAL LEVEL AWARD

(a) whether the Government has any annual award for felicitating personalities with outstanding contribution and work in the field of literature;

(b) if so, the details thereof and names of such personalities felicitated during each of the last three years and the current year;

(c) whether the Government has received any request to institute an award in the field of literature on the lines of the Noble Prize in literature; and

(d) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto alongwith the steps taken in this regard?

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN POVERTY ALLEVIATION AND MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE (KUMARI SELJA)

(a)&(b) Yes, Sir. Sahitya Akademi, an autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture, has instituted annual awards in literature under the following categories:

i) Sahitya Akademi Award of Rs.1,00,000/- each for best creative writing in 24 languages;

ii) Translation Prize of Rs.50,000/- each for best translation in 24 languages;

iii) Six Bhasha Sammans of Rs.1,00,000/- each for outstanding scholars and writers in the field of medieval and classical literature and literature in unrecognized languages;

iv) Bal Sahitya Puraskar of Rs.50,000/- each for best writing in children’s literature in 24 languages.

Lists of awardees for the last three years are at Annexure-A. Bal Sahitya Puraskar has been launched only last year and the list of awardees in this category is at Annexure-B. The awardees for the current year (2011) are not yet declared.

(c)&(d) No, Sir. However, an international award with prize money of Rs. one crore is being instituted for promoting values of Universal Brotherhood in the memory of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, to mark his 150th Birth Anniversary.