New lease of life for tottering institution

Last month, DNA reported that the Maharashtra State Urdu Academy has not distributed its annual literature awards for seven years. An award function scheduled in the last week of February had to be cancelled because an apathetic government did not approve the award list given to them more than a year ago.

The award ceremony finally took place on March 14. After giving away 114 awards, including five major prizes, the academy has cleared the backlog till 2009. A function has been planned later this year to distribute honours for the remaining awards.

The academy was set up in the 1970s by the then chief minister Shankarrao Chavan and, apart from giving away literature awards, the institution supports study and research of the language. Many of these activities came to a standstill during the last few years as the institution lost staff and government funding shrank. Once, the academy had distinguished members, such as Ali Sardar Jafri, Krishen Chander, Ismat Chugtai, Majrooh Sultanpuri and Sethu Madhavrao Pagdi.

Its managing board, as former members complain, is now filled with appointees of political parties.

According to Urdu lovers, the decline of the institution began when political parties appointed their workers to the academy’s board. This happened after the academy was transferred from the cultural ministry to the minority affairs department. “This is like saying that Urdu is the language of one religious community. Ever since the academy was transferred to the minority affairs department, it has done little work,” said journalist Sajid Rashid and a former member of the academy.

According to Dr Abdul Sattar Dalvi, director of Anjuman-i-Islam’s Urdu Research Institute and former chairperson of the academy, Urdu is the language of composite Indian culture. “Like other Indian languages, it has Sanskrit roots. It is wrong to brand it as the language of one particular group. Language is culture and the right place for the academy is in the culture department,” said Dalvi.

With the award function finally taking place, there are hopes that the academy will get a fresh lease of life. The academy has asked the government for space at Mumbai university’s Kalina campus to set up a ‘Urdu Ghar’. This year, the academy plans to hold a competition for Urdu plays in Mumbai and Solapur, a hub for Urdu theatre with its numerous drama groups.

New budget grants will be used to restock the academy’s library with Urdu magazines. There are also talks that the politician-dominated board will be dissolved and a new 21-member managing committee will take over the academy’s functioning.

All this looks like a revival for a tottering institution that was beset with resignations and allegations of political interference just some months back. Dr Qasam Imam, member-secretary of the academy has been threatening to leave for some time. Imam, head of Urdu department at Burhani College said he will stay back only if the existing board is dissolved.

“The current board is filled with political appointees who do not know the language. We are constantly harassed by the bureaucrats. We want a new autonomous board with professors and writers,” said Imam.