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dated March 13, 1954: Role of Academy

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Union Minister for Education, has called upon the recently formed National Academy of Letters (Sahitya Akademi) to lay down a standard for those who seek to be recognised as distinguished men of letters. Maulana Azad, who was addressing the first meeting of the Sahitya Akademi in New Delhi on March 12, said: "The Academy would serve its purpose only if its standard is set as high as possible. If the standard is lowered, the very purpose of establishing it is lost. The aim is to educate public taste and advance the cause of literature. This can be done only if we maintain the highest standards. Then alone will writers aim at giving their best and create works of art which will add to the heritage of man. On this question of standard, we should, I feel, be guided by the example of the French Academy. Established by Louis XIV in 1635 with only 40 members, it has to this day refused to increase this number. The number of men in the whole of France who can achieve the status of Academician is thus only 40. Even the most distinguished men have to wait for a place in the Academy till there is a vacancy." In the absence of the Chairman of the Academy, Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru, who is indisposed, the Vice-President, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, addressed the meeting. He said "if today we are to make any contribution to the literature of the world, then this Academy and the men of letters, artists and thinkers should recapture the dignity, mission and destiny of the spirit of our ancient race and try to re-orientate it to produce a new climate of ideas which will make for a universal republic of letters and a world society."

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