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Ramnika Gupta addresses a news meet in Ranchi on Wednesday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, Jan. 7: A number of awards has been announced for writers who have contributed in preserving languages such as Chakma and Mundari.

Ramnika Foundation, a New Delhi-based trust working for the cause of dalits, tribal women and communal harmony, will give away the awards on January 11 at Social Development Centre, Ranchi. Chief minister Shibu Soren will do the honours.

Twelve authors from across the country have been selected by critics and academics for the awards, 2006-2009. The recipients hail from Maharashtra, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Vardha, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Udaipur and Jharkhand.

They are Pragya Daya Pawar, Bhagwan Das, Anamika, Sushila Takbhore, Abhay Maurya, Vibhuti Narayan Rai, Dwarka Bharti, Y.C.P. Reddy, V.P. Verma Pathik, Vijoya Saviyan and Wahru Sonewane. Krishnachandra Tudu of the tribal language department of Ranchi University be the recipient of the award from the state.

The awards have been named as Birsa Munda award, Savitribui Phule Puraskar, Safdar Hashmi award, Rajiv Smriti award and Bharat Adivasi award.

The foundation bestows these awards to those writers who have translated non-Hindi works into Hindi and vice-versa. It also honours creative writing by a non-Hindi writer in Hindi or vice-versa. There are awards for outstanding writings on dalits, adivasis, women, communal harmony and democratic writings in Hindi, too.

The president of Ramnika Foundation, Ramnika Gupta, said: “Around 27 tribal languages have been translated in Hindi by several writers across the state. Among the noted ones from Jharkhand are Rose Kerketta and Ram Dayal Munda.”

She added that they were trying to save tribal languages.

“For instance, we are taking efforts to translate works in Chakma language of Tripura, Mundari and Bhojpuri into English and Hindi so that more people can read them. In this way, the languages will remain alive,” she said.

“I have provided a platform to dalit and tribal writers, too,” she added.

Present on the occasion were president of All India Tribal Literary Forum Ram Dayal Munda and popular tribal leader Rose Kerketta.