The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: A parliamentary committee has recommended that the Union government put a system in place to take prior undertakings from shortlisted candidates for government awards to avoid an ‘award-wapsi-like situation’ later.
“A system may be put in place where an undertaking is taken from the proposed awardee citing acceptance of the award and that the awardees cannot dishonor the award at any point of time in future,” stated a report tabled in parliament by the parliamentary committee on transport, tourism, and culture, according to India Today.
A report by Tribune further quoted the committee as saying, “Awards may not be given without such an undertaking. In the event that the awards are returned, the awardee shall not be considered for such an award in the future.”
The committee termed the act of returning awards in protest against political issues “disgraceful to the country”. While noting that political issues are outside the ambit of the cultural realms, returning awards, according to the committee, would impact the overall prestige and reputation of the awards.
The parliamentary panel argued that it is important to ensure that the “return of the award is not used as an instrument of political protest”, The Federal reported. The report is titled Functioning of National Akademies and Other Cultural Institutions.
Starting from September 2015, eminent writers, filmmakers, and other prominent personalities returned awards given to them by the government to protest against the targeting of minorities and the spate of communal violence under the Narendra Modi government. Many prominent personalities also returned the honours bestowed on them by the government in protest specifically against the murders of rationalists like M.M. Kalburgi, Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar.
Some of them returned the plaque and others sent back the cheques of amounts they received as part of the award. The committee said it was informed by the Sahitya Akademi that it does not have any system for taking back the award. Therefore, cheques were not deposited, and there was no instance of “award wapsi” after 2015, the committee said.
It specifically noted that 39 recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Awards returned their awards in 2015 to protest the murder of Kalburgi. The Committee said some of the awardees who had returned their awards continued their association with the Akademi, serving either on the jury or participating in the Akademi’s programmes. It questioned the re-engagement of such awardees who joined the Akademi “after insulting it”.
The Federal report quoted several writers, filmmakers, academicians, theatre, and folk personalities of Karnataka who termed the recommendations of the panel as “anti-democratic, an assault on freedom of expression and an attempt to curtail the freedom to protest in any form granted by the constitution”.
“Awards are primarily being conferred on the basis of achievement of personality in the specified field of art. The selection of the person is based on recommendation of a jury or selection committee. It is the responsibility of both the government and cultural institution not to humiliate personalities they chose for the award by imposing conditions. Karnataka has a history of respecting the creative freedom of cultural personalities and protecting them from any autocratic and undemocratic political dispensation,” said noted writer and cultural critic Baraguru Ramachandrappa.