Hindi writer and storyteller Ranendra bagged the 'Shrilal Shukla Smriti IFFCO Sahitya Samman-2020' award by Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO), a leading cooperative in the fertilizer sector.
The felicitation ceremony took place at Ranchi University's Aryabhatta Auditorium on Sunday.
Ranendra, one of the prominent writers on the subject of tribal life in the country, has been associated with Jharkhand and is familiar with the socio-cultural characteristics and interrelations of the tribal communities there.
He made his debut in the literary world in 2008 with his novel 'Global Gaon ke Devta' in which he talked about a tribal community called 'Asura'. His second novel 'Gayab hota Desh', which came out in 2014, depicted the struggle of the 'Munda' tribals.
Ranendra's latest novel titled 'Gungi Rulai ka Chorus' is based on the 'Gharanas' of Indian classical music.
The jury, constituted under the chairmanship of renowned critic Nityanand Tiwari, selected Ranendra keeping in mind his extensive literary contributions that focused on farming, tribal life and rural reality.
The other members of the jury were senior narrator Chandrakanta, poet-journalist Vishnu Nagar, writer Prof Ravi Bhushan, senior critic Murali Manohar Prasad Singh, and senior poet Dr Dinesh Kumar Shukla.
Tiwari compared Ranendra's novel 'Global Gaon ke Devta' with Munshi Premchand's 'Godaan' and said the novel gives the most authentic depiction of rural life and farming.
Dr Uday Shankar Awasthi, Managing Director of IFFCO, also congratulated Ranendra in a message.
The award was started in the year 2011 in the memory of the storyteller Shrilal Shukla. It is being given to a Hindi writer every year whose works mainly depicted the problems, aspirations and struggles related to rural and agricultural life and marginalised and displaced people. The recipient of the prize also gets Rs 11 lakh reward.
The award had earlier been conferred on Vidyasagar Nautiyal, Shekhar Joshi, Sanjeev, Mithileshwar, Ashtabhuja Shukla, Kamalakant Tripathi, Ramdev Dhurandhar, Ramdhari Singh 'Diwakar' and Mahesh Katare.
( With inputs from ANI )
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