Education ministry discontinues two Hindi awards worth 1 lakh each

NEW DELHI: The Central Hindi Directorate (CHD) of education ministry issued a notice discontinuing two Hindi awards: shiksha puraskar and hinditar bhashi Hindi lekhak puraskar on May 17, 2023. Based on an earlier decision by the home ministry to discontinue certain awards, CHD has decided to do these two.

The scheme of shiksha award was launched in 1992, under which five awards were given of Rs 1 lakh yearly. The award was conferred for original Hindi language writings in education. Over the years, numerous books were published due to this award in fields such as education policy, teaching method, social sciences, philosophy, political thought, culture, communication, moral science, science and technology, medical science, law, political science, and environment.

The puraskar yojna or hinditar bhashi Hindi lekhak puraskar was launched during the third five-year plan. This award was to encourage original Hindi writing pieces from non-Hindi-speaking regions. Before being cancelled, the 19 awards of Rs 1 lakh each were given yearly. The selection process for puraskar yojna considered creative literature, books written in regional culture, fine arts, humanities, science and technology and social sciences, and Hindi translation texts of books written in other Indian languages.

The aim of both awards was to promote original Hindi language works from creative and academic fields from both Hindi and non-Hindi speaking regions.