The fertilizer cooperative giant IFFCO bestowed the Shri Lal Shukla Smriti IFFCO Sahitya Samman on famed story writer Shri Jayanandan in a glittering function organized at the Ravindra Bhawan, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand on Tuesday.
Jayanandan was presented with a memento, a citation and a cheque for an amount of Rs 11 lakh. On this occasion, senior litterateur Manmohan Pathak who was present as the chief guest, thanked the selection committee for choosing Jayanandan for the Samman.
In his welcome address, IFFCO Joint Managing Director Rakesh Kapoor shared details about products being produced by the fertilizer cooperative in the interest of farmers and also highlighted the objective of constituting the literary award.
While recalling his former days, Jayanandan said, “I did not want to become a writer but circumstances forced me to write. I used to put my experiences on paper and people started liking it and this was how my literary journey started”.
“I was a labourer melting, peeling and shaping iron in the Tata Steel workshop. It is a big honour for me and my entire family”. Jayanandan thanked the people present on this occasion.
While addressing the participants, one of the members of the selection committee Ravindra Tripathi said, after several stages of discussion and deliberation by the selection committee, all the members agreed on the name of Jayanandan for this honor. Honouring Jayanandan in fact is giving respect to the villages, farmers, laborers. In the writings of Jayanandan, the problems of the exploited victims in society, villages, and among the farmers can be seen, he added.
Jayanandan has also written plays and essays. He has been honoured by many literary and cultural institutions including the Department of Official Language, Government of Bihar.
IFFCO MD Dr U S Awasthi also took to social media congratulating Jayanandan for this honour. “Story writer Jayanandan was honored with the 12th Shrilal Shukla Smriti IFFCO Literary Award in Jamshedpur today. Hearty congratulations from me and on behalf of IFFCO”, he tweeted.
The IFFCO Literary award was started in 2011 in the name of a famous litterateur Sri Lal Shukla and is given every year for outstanding writings on life in the countryside.
Srilal Shukla was a versatile writer who portrayed the life of rural as well as semi-urban areas in its totality and made a scathing attack on the exploitative system prevailing in the countryside. His book Rag Darbari remains a sensation till date.