Sahitya Akademi

The Sahitya Akademi was set up by the Government of India to foster and coordinate literary activities in all the Indian languages and to promote through them the cultural unity of India.

The Akademi was formally launched by the Government of India on March 12, 1954. It was registered as a society on January 7, 1956 under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.The Government of India Resolution describes it as a national organisation instituted to work actively for the development of Indian letters and to set high literary standards.

The main objective of the Sahitya Akademi is to meet the challenge posed by a multi-lingual society. The Sahitya Akademi ceaselessly endeavours to develop a serious literary culture through the publication of journals, monographs, individual creative works of every genre, anthologies, encyclopaedias, dictionaries, bibliographies, who’s who and histories of literature.

The Sahitya Akademi, India’s National Academy of Letters, is the central institution for literary dialogue, publication and promotion in the country. It is the only institution that undertakes literary activities in twenty two Indian languages, including English. Besides the eighteen languages enumerated in the Constitution of India, the Sahitya Akademi has recognised Dogri, English, Maithili and Rajasthani as languages in which its programme may be implemented.

Sahitya Akademi is housed in the Rabindra Bhawan which was built in 1961 to commemorate the birth centenary of Rabindranath Tagore. View of Rabindra Bhawan from the front gate This building which was designed by noted architect H. Rehman also houses the two other National Akademies, namely, Sangeet Natak Akademi and the Lalit Kala Akademi.

The Sahitya Akademi was established under a Government of India Resolution dated 15 December 1952 in which the Constitution of the Akademi was originally embodied. The Akademi functions as an autonomous organisation, and the power to amend its Constitution vests in the General Council of the Akademi. This power has been exercised from time to time.

The supreme authority of the Akademi vests with the General Council which consists of 97 members and the Executive Board which consists of 25 members. The present Genenral Council, the eleventh since the inaguration of the Akademi, had its first session in February 2003. The General Council was reconstituted for the term 2003-2007 and Prof. Gopi Chand Narang was elected as President of the Sahitya Akademi. The general policy of the Sahitya Akademi and the basic principles of programme are laid down by the General Council & the Executive Board.and implemented under the direct supervision of an Executive Board.

There is an Advisory Board for each language consisting of eminent writers and scholars on whose advice the specific programme in the language concerned is formulated and implemented.

The tenure of the General Council is five years. It elects the President, the Vice-President, the members of the Executive Board representing languages, and one representative of the General Council on the Finance Committee of the Sahitya Akademi. Advisory Boards for various languages are appointed by the Executive Board. The Secretary, is the principal executive officer of the Akademi.

At present  Sunil Gangopadhyay is the president, Prof. S. S. Noor is the vice – president and A. Krishna Murthy is the secretary of Sahitya Academi.