State Education Minister Dr B D Kalla presenting Rajasthan Sahitya Academy’s Kanhaiya Lal Sahal literary award to Yash Goyal in the presence of Prof. Aporavanand, Dr Kalla, Dr Hetu Bhardwaj, and Manish K Sharma.

Dr Yash Goyal, The Statesman’s Jaipur-based special correspondent, is among eight authors who were on Saturday conferred the Rajasthan Sahitya Academy Award-2022-23 for their contribution to literature.

Dr B D Kalla, Rajasthan Minister of Education, Art-Culture and Archaeology, gave away the prestigious awards under different categories to Rati Saxena, Yash Goyal, Bharat Chandra Sharma, Mayamrig, Ajay Anuragi, Rajaram Bhadu, Kusum Agarwal, and Tarana Parveen at the RSA’s annual function held here at OTS last evening.

Rati Saxena won an award that carried a cash prize of Rs 75,000, while the rest were handed over as cash prize was of Rs 31,000 each, a shawl, Gandhi cap, Soot-ki-Mala and a plaque.

While Rati won the award for her outstanding poetry ‘Hansi Ek Prarthana Hai’, Yash Goyal was honoured for his satirical work ‘Namumkin Neta’, Bharat Chand Sharma for his novel ‘Peer Parbat-Si’, Mayamrag for poetry, ‘Mujh Mein Meetha Tu Hai’, Ajay Anuragi for drama ‘Rong Number’, Rajaram Bhadu for his critique, ‘Kavita Ke Ayam’, Kusum Agarwal for her child playm, ‘Hum Sab Ek Hain’, and Tarana Parveen for her first book ‘Ek Sau Aath’.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Kalla asked the state academies (Hindi, Urdu, Rajasthani, Sindhi, etc.) to take worthwhile steps to develop their ‘prestigious knowledge centres’. He assured them cooperation of the state government at all levels.

He stressed the need for the academies to have a digital-friendly hub on literature and for litterateurs.

Speaking on the occasion, Delhi University Professor and Philosopher Apoorvanand expressed concern over the implications of the recently-released movie The Kerala Story. He asked why make such a controversial film which can’t be watched by all Indians belonging to different religious communities together in a theatre.

He said controversies and the media hype surrounding the movie could have been avoided in a secular country.

Besides the annual awards, Dr Kalla gave away Special Literateur Awards to 23 authors:  Farooq Afridi, Hariram Meena, Vidhya Paliwal, Mahendra Bhanawat, Revatiraman Sharma, Savitri Choudhary, Gordhan Singh Shekhawat, Hasan Jamal, Bakhsheesh Singh, Jeevan Singh, Kusum Meghwal, Rajendra Kaswa, Gopal Mathur, Rajan Nirmohi Jawa, Ramkumar Ghotad, Javarimal Parkeh,  Ramswaroop Kisan, Kailash Manhar, Satyanarayan, Malchand Tiwari,  Ajanta Dev, Atul Chaturvedi and Anita Verma. Nine little authors from the schools and colleges of the state were also honoured with various awards by the Academy.

Besides Prof Apoorvanand, RSA Chairman Dularam Saharan, noted author and critic Dr Hetu Bhardwaj, Minister of Rajasthan State Gandhi Smarak Nidhi Dharmveer Katewa, and the Director of Peace and Non-Violence Directorate Manish Kumar Sharma among others spoke on the occasion.