NEW DELHI: Upset over literary figures returning their awards to protest against the rise of “intolerance” but staying engaged with the Akademies that gave them the recognition, a parliamentary panel has reiterated its suggestion that the relevant bodies ask for an undertaking from potential recipients that they would not disrespect the recognitions.
The panel on transport, tourism and culture, headed by JD(U)’s Sanjay Jha, said the govt’s concern that taking prior commitment would breach the privacy policy where names of recipients are kept a secret until publicly disclosed, could be addressed by getting them to sign a non-disclosure agreement. The culture ministry had said taking prior commitments might be difficult to enforce legally.
“Alternatively, the ministry of culture should explore other measures to prevent similar issues in the future. Additionally, a policy should be established to monitor artists who have returned their awards but remain affiliated with the Akademi,” the panel said.
The report, which was presented in Lok Sabha on Monday, recalled recipients returning awards given by various Akademis in protest against certain political issues which it said were “outside the ambit of the cultural realm and the autonomous functioning of the concerned Akademi”. The committee said return of awards undermined achievements of other awardees, besides impacting the prestige and reputation of the awards.
The committee said awards given by each Akademi were top honours for an artist in India and they emphasised that Sahitya Akademi and other Akademis are apolitical organisations.
Pointing out that there was no space for politics, the committee had recommended that a system may be put in place where an undertaking is taken from the proposed awardee citing acceptance of the award and that the awardees cannot dishonour the award at any point of time in future.
In its reply to the recommendation, the ministry had last year agreed with the committee’s view and said it would like to avoid controversies. It said “obtaining a signed commitment from the writer prior to the award announcement would unfortunately compromise the confidentiality surrounding the selection process”. “Additionally, the legal enforceability of such a pre-declaration commitment might be uncertain,” the culture ministry said.
