The Sahitya Akademi on Thursday was forced to cancel a press conference it had organised to announce its annual literary awards after receiving a directive from the Union Ministry of Culture, The Hindu reported.
The autonomous literary body, which is the country’s national academy of letters, confers awards each year to books in 24 languages.
The press conference, which was scheduled for 3 pm in Delhi after a meeting of the Akademi’s executive board, was called off minutes before it was supposed to begin, and the awards process was put on hold.
In a note sent to the Akademi ahead of the press conference, the culture ministry cited an ongoing restructuring process of the awards, The Telegraph reported.
“This is to invite your attention to the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Akademies and the ministry for the year 2025-’26, wherein it has been stipulated that the exercise of restructuring of awards is required to be undertaken in consultation with the ministry,” The Hindu quoted the note as saying.
Four autonomous bodies – the National School of Drama, the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the Lalit Kala Akademi and the Sahitya Akademi – come under the culture ministry. The note was sent to all four bodies.
The note added: “In this regard, you are requested to inform this ministry of the measures taken so far.”
The ministry added that until it clears the restructuring process, “no process for declaration of awards shall be undertaken” without its approval, the newspaper reported.
An unidentified official in the culture ministry told The Hindu that the note was necessitated as the press conference had been called without the ministry’s knowledge, and without the process for the selection of the awardees being approved.
Unidentified officials told The Hindu that the MoUs for restructuring had been signed in line with the restructuring of awards across the board being undertaken under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
An unidentified member of the Akademi’s executive board told The Telegraph that a suggestion from a ministry representative on the board to review the names of the awardees had been rejected.
When presented with the names of the winners, the official said that the ministry “would review it and make the announcement”, the newspaper quoted the member as saying.
According to the individual, the other members said that the ministry had no business reviewing the names and that once the board had approved the names, the secretary would make the announcement. The official had accepted this, and the names of the winners had been cleared by the board, the individual said.
He added that there “were no suggestions from the ministry to include any names”.
KP Ramanunni, writer and a member of the Akademi’s executive board, said this was the first such cancellation in the history of the literary body and described the postponement of the awards process as “unfortunate”, Mathrubhumi reported.
MA Baby, the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said that it was “extremely deplorable that the Sahitya Akademi has sent the recommendations for its awards to the Union government”.
In a social media post, Baby added: “This is the first time ever in its history that an autonomous body such as the Akademi is bowing down to the ruling powers and seeking their approval”.
He added that it was “a shame that the Akademi, which is now functioning without a secretary, is on its knees for the government’s permission, betraying the vision of its illustrious founders”.
An official of the level of director in the culture ministry has been officiating as the member secretary of the literary body since the superannuation of a previous member secretary in October, The Hindu reported.
“Strongly condemn the [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi- [Union Home Minister Amit] Shah-[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan] Bhagwat triumvirate’s efforts to make India’s cultural institutions dance to their tunes,” Baby said. “All those who love letters and literature should unite to resist this affront on our freedom of expression!”
The RSS is the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
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