Mumbai, 19th March. Maharashtra Rajya Hindi Sahitya Academy will soon confer special Bhasha Shikhar Sahitya Samman in the memory of Bharat Ratna and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. This award will be given to the eminent litterateur who has made an incomparable contribution to Hindi literature. This important announcement was made by Advocate Ashish Shelar, Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Government of Maharashtra, while speaking as the chief guest at the annual award distribution ceremony of Maharashtra State Hindi Sahitya Academy.
This dignified ceremony was held on the evening of Tuesday, 18th March, 2025 at Rang Sharda Auditorium in Bandra, Mumbai, in which various prestigious awards were distributed for the year 2024-25. Maharashtra’s Cultural Affairs Minister Ashish Shelar, in his address on this occasion, said that the land of Maharashtra is committed to the promotion of Marathi as well as Hindi literature and language. He said that Maharashtra is the only state in the country where academies of ten languages are active. He said that in the coming days, the Maharashtra government will be seen making more and more efforts to promote all these languages. Shelar said that language is an important medium to connect the society and promote culture. Therefore, more emphasis should be laid on the creation of good children literature, so that our future generations can also get acquainted with great heroes like Chhatrapati Sambhaji Raje and Tara Rani and the rich and precious heritage of India.
Welcoming everyone on this occasion, Dr. Sheetla Prasad Dubey, Working President of Maharashtra State Hindi Sahitya Academy, gave information about the various activities and schemes of the Academy. He said that a total of 46 litterateurs are being honored in this function and the special thing to be noted is that from this year the amount of various awards has been doubled. As a result, the highest award of two lakh rupees is being given. Working President Dr. Dubey expressed his gratitude to the Maharashtra Government for this significant increase in the prize money. The award distribution ceremony began with lighting of lamps and Maharashtra State Song by the Minister of State for Culture and various dignitaries. On this occasion, the impressive staging of an elegant play on the occasion of the 300th birth anniversary of Punya Shloka Ahilyadevi Holkar overwhelmed everyone. Later, various awards were distributed by the Minister of Cultural Affairs and other guests.
This year, in the All India Samman Jeevan Gaurav Awards, well-known litterateur Ramakrishna Sahastrabuddhe was honored with ‘Maharashtra Bharati All India Hindi Seva Award’ and well-known litterateur Prof. (Dr.) Shriram Parihar was honored with ‘Dr. Ram Manohar Tripathi All India Hindi Seva Award’. Under the state level honours Jeevan Gaurav Awards, ‘Chhatrapati Shivaji National Unity Award’ was given to Rajesh Kumar Mishra alias Rajesh Vikrant, ‘Sane Guruji National Unity Award’ to Rishikumar Mishra, ‘Padma Shri Anant Gopal Shevde Hindi Service Award’ to Dr. Sanjay Singh, ‘Dr. Usha Mehta Hindi Service Award’ to Dr. Sushmita Bhattacharya, ‘Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh Marathi speaking Hindi writer Award’ to Prof. (Dr.) Vijaykumar Rode, ‘Kantilal Joshi Other Hindi speaking Hindi writer Award’ to Geeta Manek, ‘V. Shantaram Lalit Kala Hindi Special Service Award’ to Akhilendra Mishra and ‘Subramanya Bharati Hindi Setu Special Service Award’ to Sheela Dongre.
Apart from these, various awards were given to a total of 36 litterateurs under the 14 genre awards of the Academy. IPS officer Krishna Prakash and industrialist Rajendra Singh were also honoured for their excellent literary works. In this ceremony, apart from the Minister of Cultural Affairs and the Working President, Maharashtra State Hindi Sahitya Academy’s Vice President Dr. Mrs. Manju Lodha, senior litterateur Dr. Sudhakar Mishra, former Vice President of Film City Amarjeet Mishra, senior RTI activist Anil Galgali and senior journalist Vimal Mishra were present on the stage. A large number of literature lovers including all the members of Maharashtra State Hindi Sahitya Academy and the family members of the award winners attended the auditorium. The elegant programme was jointly conducted by senior stage director Anand Prakash Singh and senior TV journalist Prasad Kathe. In the end, Academy’s Member Secretary and Co-Director Sachin Nimbalkar expressed his gratitude to everyone. This unforgettable ceremony concluded with the national anthem.
