Mulayam felicitates Hindi litterateurs

Lucknow, Sep 14 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav today felicitated over 40 Hindi litterateurs with various awards, including the prestigious 'Bharat Bharati Samman' on the occasion of Hindi Diwas.

Editor, critic and writer Dr Namvar Singh was presented the Bharat Bharati Samman award for the year 2004 by the Chief Minister.

Born on May Day in 1927 in Varanasi, Dr Singh had been associated with various publications including 'Janyug', 'Aalochna' and the 'Rashtriya Sahara' group.

Prof Ramesh Kuntal 'Megh, Dr Viveki Rai, Dr Ramchandra Tiwari, Dr Narendra Kohli and Himanshu Joshi were conferred the Lohia Sahitya Ssmman, Mahatma Gandhi Samman, Hindi Gaurav Samman, Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Samman and Awanti Bai Samman respectively.

While journalists Alok Mehta and Ram Dutta Tripathi were presented with Patrakarita Bhushan Samman and Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi award respectively, the Dainik Jagran group was conferred the Balkrishna Bhatt award.

Dr Keshav Phalke (Marathi), Dr Shanti 'Suman (Maithli), Dr Ms Rajam Natarajan Pliiai (Tamil) and Ms Nirmala Putul (Santhali) were presented with the Sauhartha Samman for promoting the respective languages.

The CM announced that the cash amount accompanying the awards below Rs 1 lakh had now been increased to Rs one lakh each.

He said the UP government would work towards strengthening the Hindi language in the state and all assistance would be provided to promote the language.

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