New Delhi, Nov. 10: Tagore prize, brought to you by a company with roots in Korea.

For the first time, a Sahitya Akademi award will be sponsored by a company following an understanding between the culture ministry and Samsung India to institute a literary prize named after Rabindranath Tagore.

Till now, all Akademi awards have been sponsored by the government.

“It is for the first time that the Sahitya Akademi has entered into an understanding with a corporate house to institute an award. It was Samsung which approached the government with the proposal, saying the company wanted to institute an award in the name of Rabindranath Tagore to promote Indian literature,” said K.S. Rao, officer on special duty with the Akademi.

Samsung president & CEO, South West Asia, J.G. Shin and Akademi secretary Agrahara Krishnamurthy signed the memorandum of understanding last week, sources said. The award will not carry Samsung’s name but the company stands to gain from its association with what can become a big cultural event, the sources said.

Starting this year, the Tagore Literature Awards will be announced in the last week of every December, after the winners of the general Akademi awards have been declared, Rao said. “We don’t want to club them,” the official added.

The Tagore awards will recognise the best literary contributions in eight Indian languages every year.

Works in Bengali, Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Punjabi, Telugu and Bodo would be selected in the first year.

Next year, works in another eight languages will be considered. In the third year — 2011 — the remaining eight of the 24 official Indian languages will be considered for the awards.

An Akademi source said the awards would be handed over on Tagore’s birthday, which generally falls on May 8 or 9, depending on the Bengali calendar.

The prize money has, however, not been finalised.

“We have made it clear that the amount should not be higher than the Akademi awards,” Rao said.

The Akademi awards carry a prize money of Rs 50,000 now but, sources said, the amount was likely to be increased to Rs 1 lakh from this year.

Tagore, Rao said, was a revered figure in Korea, the homeland of the consumer electronics major.

Not everyone sees it that way. “Why should the Akademi awards be allowed to be used as a marketing strategy for an MNC? And do we need a Korean company to sponsor our literature?” asked V.N. Murali, secretary of the Left-leaning Progressive Writers’ Front. “Moreover, it is sad that the name of Tagore who is a symbol of Indian nationalism is being used for the MNC-isation of Indian literature.”

Sources in the Akademi, which falls under the culture ministry, said the previous executive committee had rejected the Samsung proposal on the ground that it wasn’t proper to use the name of Tagore for an award sponsored by a multinational company.

“The Akademi executive committee had rejected the proposal saying it would devalue the Akademi awards. But this time, it could not withstand the pressure from the top,” said a committee executive member.

Others said if the government had decided to opt for private sponsorship, it would have been better to invite bids and then award the rights to the highest bidder to ensure a level playing field, earn some revenue and avoid charges of favouritism.

Akademi officials said there was no scope for malpractice. “The selection of winners will be made exclusively by the Sahitya Akademi and the process would be the same as that of other Akademi awards. Samsung’s role will be limited to sponsoring,” Rao said.