The Maharashtra legislative assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a bill which makes Marathi a compulsory subject across all schools in the state. The development came on `Marathi Bhasha Din' (Marathi language day) which is celebrated on February 27, the birth anniversary of poet and Jnanpith award winner late V V Shirwadkar. The state legislative council had passed the legislation, titled `Maharashtra Compulsory Teaching and Learning of Marathi Language in Schools Bill, 2020', on Wednesday.
'People like Mahaswetadi can never die. They live in our hearts and minds,' says writer Nabaneeta Dev Sen.
Hindi cinema lost some of its most celebrated faces in 2019, leaving a void in the fraternity as well as in the hearts of the audiences. We take a look at those who passed on.
Mourners in large numbers on Saturday paid their last respects to Jnanpith award winner and Kannada literary giant U R Ananthamurthy who was cremated with full state honours in Bangalore.
A shocking fact revealed by a pan-India survey that was flagged at a seminar of Dalit intellectuals
Karnad, a recipient of Jnanpith Award, was also conferred the Padma Shri in 1974 and the Padma Bhushan in 1992.
Tamil writer D Jayakanthan, who charted a new course in Tamil literature, died on Wednesday night following a prolonged illness.
Girish Karnad lived several lives not only on the stage but also as a scholar, theatre personality, an actor and director in a career spanning over five decades.
He was always opposed to the idea of Narendra Modi as the prime minister and today he has out in the open once again to speak about it.
Winner of the 1996 Jnanpith and 1997 Ramon Magsaysay Awards, Mahasweta Devi firmly believed that 'real history is made by ordinary people.'
A towering figure in the world of letters, Udupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthamurthy, who died in Bangalore on Friday, was modern in his sensibilities and intellectual underpinnings in his literary works questioned many deeply-held beliefs.
'He had a continuing interest in life, people, and the society in which he lived,' remembers Shyam Benegal, who collaborated with the polyglot playwright and actor through the 1970s and remained his friend for more than five decades.
'She never desisted from calling a spade a spade and that's what made her such a unique character.'
'His simple lifestyle, his optimism, his hard work and his genuine humility made him an authentic role model to millions of children, many of them growing up in challenging circumstances.'
Ramdhari Singh Dinkar's poems speak to every Indian, uniting them across political, social, religious and caste divides. They elevate; they inspire; they stir the soul and goose-bump the flesh.
Theatre director Saif Hyder Hassan talks about his new play Ek Mulaqat.
'RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was on the Hindu extremists' hit-list. In June 2008, this information was made public. Prior to that, you should hear Bhagwat's speeches and listen to his 'liberal' statements.' 'After he was informed that he was on their hit-list, he became a hardliner. He was not like that before.'
Dr P K Menon, Chief Scientist and CEO, Optimal Synthesis Inc, who worked with Dr A P J Abdul Kalam early on in his career, recalls what it was like working for his first boss.
U R Ananthamurthy on the importance of keeping alive our regional languages.