Four Urdu novels nominated under ‘Bank of Baroda Rashtrabhasha Samman’ Awards Long List

Delhi, May 29, 2023: Bank of Baroda (Bank), one of India’s leading public sector banks, announced the list of 12 nominations for the “Bank of Baroda Rashtrabhasha Samman” Awards 2023 on 24.05.2023. The four Urdu Novels are among  the long-list of 12 novels nominated for the first edition of award. The unique award has been instituted to recognize and promote literary works in various Indian languages (included under the 8th Schedule of the Constitution) as well as to make the best Indian literature available to Hindi readers through translations, thereby broadening the interest and making the novels accessible to a larger set of readers. 

The ‘Bank of Baroda Rashtrabhasha Samman’ Award will be presented to both the author of the original work and the translator of the book in to Hindi. The author of the original work and the respective Hindi translator of the award-winning book will receive Rs. 21.00 lakh and Rs. 15.00 lakh respectively. Moreover, the authors and the Hindi translators of the next five shortlisted books will receive Rs. 3.00 lakh and Rs. 2.00 lakh each respectively.  

The details of the shortlisted Urdu novels are as below:

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Lalit Tyagi, Executive Director, Bank of Baroda said “Our country has been very rich in terms of literary heritage and our culture has also been based on multilingualism. Therefore, the “Bank of Baroda Rashtrabhasha Samman” announced by the Bank of Baroda will act as a great encouragement to all the languages ​​included in the 8th schedule of the constitution. When we talk about the national language, it means all our major languages ​​of the country. I am sure that in the coming times, this honor will prove to be a milestone in the literary field”

At the event organised in Delhi today, the original authors Mr. Mohsin Khan, Mr. Siddique Alam, Mr. Khalid Jawed and the translators Mr. Arjumand Ara, Mr. Rizvanul Haque and Mr. Zaman Tariq participated in a panel discussion. The writers conversed on the Indian literature landscape and the significance of the Rashtrabhasha Samman award for the literary fraternity across India.

Mohsin Khan’s “Allah Miyan Ka Kaarkhana” is a very interesting work telling a poignant tale in a lucid and attractive manner. This novel has been translated into Hindi, Marathi, Sindhi, Kashmiri, and Persian languages. Siddique Alam’s “Cheeni Kothi” is a creative narrative of man’s existential struggle and longing to return to his origin, how he reconciles and resists his inner chaos, excitement, doubt, sadness and the contradictions of social life and nature.

Two novels by Khalid Jawed ‘Ek Khanjar Paani Mein’ and ‘Nemat Khana’ are a part of the list nominated.  Ek Khanjar Paani Mein is a novel which talks about water and the perils associated with it and how water scarcity is becoming a serious problem in many cities and towns. ‘Nematkhana’ is a novel written in the form of a memoir of the protagonist Zaheeruddin Babar alias Guddu Mian.  The novel brings together many stories of individuals living in a joint family system in a small town in northern India. The novel is being taught at the Urdu dept in INALCO, Paris, France. Nematkhana is also translated into English as ‘The Paradise of Food’.

The Bank had initiated the process of inviting nominations during the period March-April 2023 and received several entries written in different Indian languages, from which the jury prepared a list of 12 books. The winner of the ‘Bank of Baroda Rashtrabhasha Samman’ Award will be announced mid-June, 2023 in Delhi.