Marathi novelist Bhalchandra Nemade bags 50th Jnanpith Award

NEW DELHI: Prime minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said it was a matter of both admiration and surprise that the Vedas written several years ago had solutions to problems mankind was facing today. Modi was speaking at the golden jubilee of the Jnanpith Award 2014 ceremony in the capital.
Extolling the contribution of writers to society and stating how some forms of literature live on to influence generations, most often connecting the present and past with the future, he said, “It is quite admirable that the vedas contain solutions for problems of global warming and environment protection, issues that we face today. But who wrote them belonged to that time.”

Modi awarded the 50th Jnanpith Award to eminent Marathi litterateur Bhalchandra Nemade whose several books, including Kosala and Hindu, have influenced Indian writing. As a critic, Nemade’s contribution rests in initiating Deshivad, a theory of nativism that negated globalisation, asserting the value of a writer’s native heritage, and language.

Trishla Jain, daughter of Samir Jain, vicechairman and managing director of Times Group, said the award has been serving to reward the finest in Indian literature since its inception in 1943 in Varanasi. Writers, she said, are not only chroniclers of times but are also conscious keepers of the society and need to be encouraged.

Measures such as government accommodation for writers in different cities, insurance and subsidised travel could help the writers spread the benefit of their intellect to a larger audience, suggested Jain, who began her address with a prayer for the victims of the Nepal earthquake. She also stressed the need for facilitating more translations of Indian writing so that it is celebrated globally.

Seventy-six-year-old Nemade, who hails from Jalgaon, spoke about the need for the Indian society to stop thinking that progress would come only with adopting foreign influences.

What we need is a reverse acculturation to counter the belief that “the soil can be ours but the seed has to come from outside.” Deshivad, Nemade said, was an essential requisite for every writer. “There is always a question how much is deshivad and what stretch could make it fundamentalism. But in our tradition, there is no scope for it becoming a stretch, there are checks and balances.”

Jain said it was an honour to have PM Modi as a guest at the event and reminded him that it was in Benaras, his Lok Sabha constituency, that the Jnanpith Award was conceptualised by her great grandparents, Rama Jain and Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain. She said that the 50th anniversary of the Jnanpith award was also a time to pay tribute to those who are instrumental in the inception of the award that rewarded the finest in Indian literature.

Literature connects the ephemeral present to the distant past, and it is important to promote writers to facilitate literature that stands the test of time, she said.