Letter to the Sahitya Akademi President

by Ivy Imogene Hansdak

Dear Sir,

I wish to draw your attention to certain anomalies in the policy used by the Sahitya Akademi in the nomination of recipients for the Annual Sahitya Akademi Awards in Santhali (Santali) language and literature. It is noted that only writers using the Ol Chiki script are being considered for the Sahitya Akademi Awards, despite the fact that Santhali is an oral language (like all tribal languages of India) and its speakers presently use at least five major scripts —that is, Roman/ Latin, Devnagari, Bengali, Oriya and Ol Chiki—depending on various extraneous factors, such as, which State they reside in, which social background they belong to, what kind of schooling they are exposed to, etc.

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This policy of granting recognition to a writer/ literary text on the basis of script needs to be re-examined since it has led to some serious adverse effects:

1. It has excluded a few eminent Santhali writers from the annual Award List of the Sahitya Akademi. Here, two names that come instantly to mind are Nirmala Putul and Parimal Hembrom ‘Marsal’, both of whom have been translated into English and published in reputed national journals, yet are considered unworthy for this Award List.

2. It has fostered serious ill-feeling within the Santhal community, as seen in the long-drawn and bitter debates being conducted over this issue in some media and social networking sites. In one case, it has also led to threatening behaviour by a group of Santhals and the disruption of a Santhal literary conference in the State of West Bengal.

3. It has given undue importance to the script of a literary text, at the expense of literary merit. Santhali literature is a new entrant into the rich and competitive arena of Indian literature, and it has a long way to go before it reaches the high standard one finds in the writings of major Indian languages. Besides, in the context of the impending danger of extinction facing many oral languages today (as pointed out at the “Bhasha Vasudha: Languages of the Earth” Meet, January 2012, Vadodara, Gujarat), the threat to Santhali language due to this lopsided focus on script assumes alarming proportions.

To sum up, the Sahitya Akademi’s policy of giving recognition to only one script for Santhali is very unfortunate and needs to be re-examined. By attempting to standardise the script of an oral/tribal language, the Sahitya Akademi is treating it on par with the major (literate) languages/literatures of India. The need of the hour is more sensitivity and vision from our policy-makers, not a hasty application of general rules to every situation. In the interest of Santhali language and literature, I hereby request the honourable office-bearers of the Sahitya Akademi to re-examine its policy with regard to the Award List in Santhali and to grant recognition to all Santhali writers/ texts, irrespective of the script being used.

Yours sincerely,

Ivy Imogene Hansdak
(Assistant Professor,
Jamia Millia Islamia, Senior Scale,
New Delhi - 110025 Department of English)

Copies to:

1. The Secretary, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi.
2. The Director, Bhasha Research and Publication Centre, Vadodara, Gujarat.
3. The Editor, Mainstream weekly, New Delhi.