Governor underscores role of creative writers peace initiative

IMPHAL, April 17 : Veteran 62 years old popular poet Thangjam Ibobipishak Singh of Wangkhei Thangjam Leikai was awarded this year with the Manipur State Award for Literature sponsored by the state Education (S) department.

The formal award distribution function was organized this afternoon at historical Kanga hall with the Governor, Gurbachan Jagat, as chief guest. Also present at the function was education minister L Jayantakumar and other officials of state education department and imminent writers of the state.

State Governor, Gurbachan Jagat in his speech disclosed that Manipur literature has been closely linked to the Manipuri civilization. It is the repository of her birth, triumphs, defeats, peace, conflicts, transformation and introspections, he said.

He said it was a landmark in the history of Manipuri literature that the modern Manipuri literature was herald by the entry of three overarching geniuses, Chaoba, Kamal and Anganghal into the field of Manipuri literature in the early part of the 20th century.

Their works manifested as change in the culture, sensibilities and aspirations of their time, he said adding their versatilities made them foray into different genres like the novel, short stories, poetry, drama, essay, criticism and so on.

Besides these trio of geniuses, literary figures like Nabadwipchandra, Minaketan and Shitaljit were other leading lit of Manipuri literature he said.

Many more writers, to mention a few, MK Binodini, A Chitreshware, E Sonamani, A Biren Patcha Meitei etc. began to emerged and made their footprints, he said.

The Governor further mentioned that the people of Manipur will be very proud that Manipuri literature has been duly recognized by the national bodies like Sahitya Academy.

Manipur`s potential in literature is today known and respected throughout the country, he added.

"We cannot but appreciate our authors and poets for their contributions towards the promotion and enrichment of Manipuri literature and amidst disadvantages like lack of proper encouragement, financial help and minuscule size of market for Manipuri books, etc he said.

He also mentioned that, it is encouraging to note that the department of education (S) on behalf of the state government, instituted the Manipur state Award for Literature last year and created a milestone in the history of Manipuri literature.

Though there are awards purported to be of the same nature which are given to authors in recognition of their outstanding works in Manipuri literature such as those instituted by the Manipur state Kala Academy, an autonomous body, besides other literary bodies, the state Award for State Literature for the first time that the state government has directly stepped in to promote and fete the excellence in Manipuri Literature.

The Governor also further said that Manipur has had a long and rich tradition of literature and it had a continuous lineage through the vicissitudes of the history of Manipur, Contemporary Manipuri Literature reflects Manipuri modern life and the social change hence it is alive and real. The timing of instituting the award by the government is significant. Great writers of Manipur have been languishing in the wilderness for decades for lack of support from the government, he said.

Novelists, poets and essayists of Manipur have undoubtedly proven to be of high caliber and if patronized by the state in right earnest, they have the potential of even earning International acclaim and accolades, he said.

He said it is confident that they will continue to endeavour in their works to achieve an honourable and excellent status for Manipuri literature. The creative writers should also play an important role in society in helping the common by their writings to realized the need for social and economic upliftment. It is the function of literary men to give proper vision to the people, he said.

Keeping this in view, he appealed to writers and poets to conceived ideas and present them in their books which will propagate the message of peace and harmony so as to bring about an ideal society.

The state education minister L Jayantakumar Singh who presided the function today mentioned that, the presentation of such award is to encourage and promote the writers of the state by the department, but the department has also seriously counted the problems of limited publishers of good writers of the state, this problems will be solve in the future and urged good writers to come forward.

He said such programmes will continue in the future to come. The Governor, presented the Manipur State Award for Literature to popular poet Thangjam Ibopishak along with a citation and cash reward of Rs. 1 lakh for his book of poem titled `Srimati Tomcha Babu` which was selected by the award committee of the state education (s) department for year 2009.

In the meantime, L Biramani Singh, advisor of the award committee while giving his introductory speech of the award distribution today read out the bio-data of the Thangjam Ibopishak, during he mentioned this was second award and first awards of its kind was awarded to BM Meisnamba last year.