[At least 17 authors have till now returned their awards to protest against the killing of writer MM Kalburgi and lynching of a Muslim in Uttar Pradesh's Dadri over his alleged consumption of beef.]
http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31818&articlexml=Under-Pressure-Sahitya-Akademi-Calls-Meeting-13102015005019 Oct 13 2015 : The Economic Times (Mumbai) Under Pressure, Sahitya Akademi Calls Meeting Vasudha Venugopal New Delhi: 24 writers on the Board to meet on October 23 to discuss return of awards The Sahitya Akademi has convened an emergency meeting of its executive board -comprising 24 writers representing different Indian languages -on October 23, to discuss the issue of a string of writers returning their Akademi awards in protests against `growing intolerance' in society and the Centre's `indifference' towards it. The debate grew stronger on Monday after Salman Rushdie joined the growing chorus of protests. ***At least 17 authors have till now returned their awards to protest against the killing of writer MM Kalburgi and lynching of a Muslim in Uttar Pradesh's Dadri over his alleged consumption of beef.*** [Emphasis added.] Official sources said the emergency meeting was made possible only because of the pressure exerted on the body by executive board members such as N Gopi, Krishnaswamy Nachimuthu and Narahalli Balasubramanya among others. “We had held a meeting to condemn the attack on Kalburgi in September in Bangalore but the Centre did not do anything in Delhi. Many of the writers are of the opinion that the Akademi's reaction to an assault on ra tionalists should not have ended with a condolence meeting in one state,“ Balasubramya, a Kannada writer, also part of the Akademi board said. He added, “at a time like this when there is a threat to freedom of expression, the Akademi should back the writers.“ Many of the other writers on the board that ET spoke to said it was time the body expressed itself clearly . Sahitya Akademi president Vishwanath Pra tap Tiwari said the meeting has been called to discuss the resignations of the writers. Click To Enlarge [Tweet from Salman Rushdie: I support Nayantara Sahgal and many other writers protesting to the Sahitya Akademi. Alarming times for free expression in India] -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
