Kalam Honours 30 Scholars

New Delhi, May 21 (UNI) As many as 30 scholars of Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, Arabic and Persian were honoured by President A P J Abdul Kalam today.

The recipients of President's Certificate of Honour for 2006 include 15 scholars of Sanskrit, one scholar of Pali/Prakrit and three each of Arabic and Persian, an official announcement said.

Sanskrit scholars: Thangirala Bala Gangadhar Sarma, Acharya Munishwar Jha, Prof Usha Choudhari, Vasant Giridharlal Parikh, Mathura Datt Pandey, Ganga Datt Shastri, Sheshachala Sarma, Kamlesh Datta Tripathi, S Krishnamurthy Sastry, Dr Jagdamba Prasad Sinha, Dr Parasnath Dwivedi, Shivji Upadhayaya, Dr Mansa Ram Sharma, Dr Debabrata Sen Sharma and Dileep Kumar Kanjilal.

Pali/Prakrit: Dr Prof Prem Suman Jain.

Arabic: Abubakr Mohammed Al-Hashmi, Prof Abdul Aleem Khan and Prof Abdul Ali Persian: Prof Nargis Jahan, Prof Mahmood Alam and Abdus Subhan.

President Kalam also awarded the Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Samman to eight scholars.

They are: Sanskrit scholars Buddeshwar Sarangi, N Srinivasan, Ramchandra Budhial, S Tatwamsi Dixit and Dr Sukhdev Bhoi, Pali/Prakrit scholar Rajesh Ranjan, Arabic scholar Dr Mohammed Sanaullah and Persian scholar, Dr Sayed Kaleem Asghar.

The Awards are announced annually on the eve of Independence Day in recognition of ''outstanding contribution'' of scholars of eminence over 60 years of age to teaching, publication and other effort to keep alive the traditions of Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian and Pali/Prakrit.

The scheme envisages a Rs 50,000 annual grant for life, apart from a Sanad and a Shawl.

Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Samman is granted to young scholars in the age group of 30-40 years credited with a breakthrough in interdisciplinary studies involving these languages. It carries a one-time cash award of Rs one lakh along with a sanad and a shawl.

UNI