Rajasthani writer Nand Bhardwaj returns Akademi award

Rajasthani litterateur Nand Bhardwaj has returned his Sahitya Akademi award, blaming the literary body of failing to “protect” the rights of writers. In a letter to Secretary of Sahitya Akademi yesterday, Bhardwaj, also attached a check of Rs 50,000 which he got with the award in 2004 and sent “prateek chinh” (logo) separately.

He said, this is a protest against religious and creative intolerance which is rising in recent time. With this, at least 29 authors including Nayantara Sahgal and Ashok Vajpeyi have decided to return their Akademi awards and five writers have stepped down from official positions of the literary body, which in turn has convened an emergency meeting on October 23 to discuss the developments.