CM gives away first ever Best Translation Awards

Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, June 1 : Pin pointing the co-relation between tourism and culture, Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah on Friday emphasized the need for dovetailing efforts to protect and promote State’s identity, cultural diversity, art, languages and history.
“Department of Tourism and J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages should complement each others’ endeavours in protecting the State’s civilization to outside world”, he said and asked the duo to work out a 15-day cultural bonanza utilizing good number of amphitheatres available in Srinagar and other places in the Valley to showcase Jammu and Kashmir’s cultural diversity and heritagte.
Speaking at an award giving function for excellence in literary translation, organized by J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages here, the Chief Minister said that Jammu and Kashmir is the land of rich cultural diversity, languages, art and traditions. He said the State has produced renowned literary personalities who have penned down popular and high class works in various languages spoken in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh regions.
“There is a need to translate these works of prose and poetry in other languages and also translate the classic of different foreign languages into local ones to expand the ambit of readership for works of renowned authors and poets”, he said asking the Cultural Academy to make further headway in the translating discipline involving local writers in the field.
Omar Abdullah said that the awards for excellence in literary translation have been introduced for the first time in the activities of J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages to encourage this discipline and provide larger canvas of variety literature to the readers. He said translated versions of great authors dealing with different subjects would not only enrich the local literature but provide opportunity to the people speaking different languages to read the translated versions of famous books.
The Chief Minister told the Cultural Academy to organize Book Fairs and hold cultural programmes at various tourist places to provide opportunity to the visitors to buy books authored by the writers and poets of the State and learn about Jammu and Kashmir and its cultural diversity. In his speech, Minister of State for Tourism and Culture, Nasir Aslam Wani said that efforts of Departments of Tourism and Cultural Academy are being dovetailed to showcase State’s cultural richness alongwith its mesmerising natural beauty.
In his welcome address, Commissioner Secretary Tourism and Culture, Atal Dulloo presented the resume of the activities of J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages and gave detailed account of the new initiatives taken by the Academy for the promotion of State’s culture and art.
Five renowned writers received the first ever excellence awards for best translations. These included Dr. Jatindra Udhampuri, who received the award for Dogri translation ‘Do Gaz Zameen’, A. N. Dhar for ‘Country of the Soil’ (Engish) on Bimla Raina’s Veth Maa Chi Shangit, Gouri Shankar Raina for ‘Ranga Rajtarangini’ (Hindi), Darakshan Indrabi for ‘Zou As Peth Akh Rath’ (Kashmiri) and Mohammad Azeem Khan for ‘Rubaiyat-e-Iqbal’ (Pahari). Each award constituted Rs. 25,000 cash, a shawl and a citation.
Deputy Chairman Legislative Council, Mohammad Yousuf Taing, Vice Chairman Pahari Advisory Board, Mushtaq Ahmad Bukhari, Secretary Cultural Academy, Khalid Bashir Ahmad Bhat were present on the occasion.