Saraswati Samman For Govind Mishra: Another Honour For the Hindi Novelist
Saraswati Samman For Govind Mishra: Another Honour For the Hindi Novelist
Run-of-the-mill writers are a dime a dozen but talented authors are another cup of tea altogether. One such author is Hindi novelist, poet and author, Govind Mishra who has just been announced as the most recent winner of the coveted Saraswati Samman awards for 2013. Born in the month of August, 1939, Mishra is an author of more than 53 books. An ex-civil servant, Mishra retired as the Chairperson of the CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes) in the year 1997. He has authored many different literary works including short story collections, novels, literary essays, poem collections, travelogues and children's story books.
Mishra is also a recipient of many other awards including the Sahitya Akademi Award in the year 2008. He has received the Saraswati Samman for 2013 for his book entitled Dhool Puadho Par which was authored and published in 2008. He is the second Hindi author to receive this award after noted literary genius, author and poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan. Incidentally, Bachchan was the first awardee following the inauguration of this honour. Bachchan was awarded the honour for his seminal 4 volume autobiography Kya Bhooloon Kya Yaad Karoon, Needa Ka Nirman Phir, Basere Se Door and Dashdwar se Sopan Tak.
Saraswati Samman is an award conferred on authors for outstanding and exemplary literary work composed in an Indian language. This award was started in 1991 by the K. K. Birla Foundation. A brief line up of winners of this award since the year 2000 are as follows.
2012: Sugathakumari
2011: A.A. Manavalan
2010: S. L. Bhyrappa
2009: Surjit Paatar Lafzan
2008: Lakshmi Nandan
2007: Naiyer Masud
2006: Jagannath Prasad Das
2005: K. Ayyappa Panicker
2004: Sunil Gangopadhyay
2003: Govind Chandra Pande
2002: Mahesh Elkunchwar
2001: Dalip Kaur
2000: Manoj Das
2 other awards constituted by the K. K. Birla Foundation apart from this is the Bihari Puraskar for Hindi as well as Rajasthani writers and the Vyas Samman for Hindi writers. Saraswati Samman includes cash price of 10 lakh rupees apart from a citation and a plaque.
Since the year 2005, the Sarawasti Samman is awarded for authors who write in any one of 22 languages included in Schedule VIII of the Indian Constitution. Home minister Rajnath Singh who presented the award to Mishra, spoke of how "The way science and technology can be found in different Indian languages, it can't be found in any other language in the world," he said while citing how Heisenberg's principle of uncertainty was actually based on the scientist's discussions regarding Vedanta with Rabindra Nath Tagore.
