June 16, 2026 05:39 pm (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
Tragedy in the skies: Five IAF personnel killed in AN-32 crash in Assam | 'Ask probe officers whether I hid anything': Abhishek Banerjee hits back after pre-dawn police search | Police storm Abhishek Banerjee's house at 3 am tracking aide, Mamata arrives; seizure list says 'NIL' | Big boost for India's security: DRDO successfully tests advanced missile shield | Indian-origin man jailed for 34 years in UK over horrific kidnap, torture and rape case | Mamata's nightmare deepens! Saayoni Ghosh, Dev, Rachana Banerjee among 19 rebel MPs seeking TMC split | Trump claims US 'ended war with Iran', Tehran yet to confirm a deal | Heartbreak for Indian sports: Manu Bhaker's mentor Jaspal Rana passes away at 49 | Three Indian seafarers, missing after US strike on tanker near Oman, confirmed dead | 'Choose your side': TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee's ultimatum to Mamata in open revolt against Abhishek

Nine more scholars return Sahitya Akademi award

| | Oct 12, 2015, at 05:13 pm
New Delhi, Oct 12 (IBNS) Nine more scholars have returned Sahitya Akademy award over rising intolerance and communal disharmony taking the number of protesting writers who have disowned the coveted prize to 15.

In the latest development, Hindi poets Mangalesh Darbal and Rajesh Joshi,  eminent author G N Devy, short story writer  Gurbachan Singh Bhullar, Konkani writer N Shivdas, Kannada writer Kum Veerabhadrappa and Punjabi playwrights Atamjit Singh and Ajmer Singh Aulakh and Punjabi short story writer Waryam Singh Sandhu returned the awards on Sunday.

"I am returning the award as a protest against growing intoleracne," Devy, A 1993 winner of Sahitya Akademy, told CNN-IBN.

All the writers have protested against Sahitya Akademy's silence on the recent lynching in Uttar Pradesh Dadri over rumours of cow slaughter and the murder of author M M Kalburgi, allegedly for his rationalist views.

Earlier, six other Sahitya Akademy winners, including Nayantara Sahgal and Shashi Deshpande returned their awards.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.