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Jnanpith Award presented

— Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

STRESS ON HUMANITIES: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presents the Jnanpith Award to Kashmiri poet Abdul Rahman Rahi in New Delhi on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: Advocating the need for more access to history, literature and performing arts to make the education complete, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday that no society could consider itself complete if it did not have sufficient room for creativity.

Speaking after presenting the 40th Jnanpith Award for 2004 to Abdul Rahman Rahi – the first Kashmiri writer to get it – Dr. Singh said literature is a living tradition and it is incumbent upon us to protect and enhance it.

“Our schools and colleges are understandably focused on providing children and young men and women with the means to go forward in life, to make the most of their abilities, to play their role in society and grow up as responsible citizens.

“Sometimes I believe we do not pay enough attention to the humanities that, as the word implies, will help them grow up as better human beings. We should ensure that even as our youth learn skills and equip themselves for employment, they are not deprived of access to literature and poetry, and indeed to history, the visual and performing arts and to other forms of creativity,” he said.

He also hoped that the works of authors recognised by the Jnanpith Award can be made available through translations in other Indian languages to larger audiences.

“I recognise that it is often not possible to convey nuances but we need to appreciate the creativity of one another and of our different cultural and linguistic streams.”

Accepting the Award, Mr. Rahman Rahi said that despite being an old language Kashmiri did not receive official patronage until a few decades ago when it was included in the Eight Schedule of the Constitution.

The Award, given for contribution to literature, carries a memento, a shawl and Rs.5 lakh in cash.

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