People's Democracy

DELHI

Writers Welfare Fund Demanded

ON October 10, a delegation of eminent Hindi and Urdu writers met Mrs Sheila Dixit, the chief minister of Delhi, at her residence to demand the institution of a writers welfare fund and for a reconstitution of various academies. The delegation presented to the chief minister two separate drafts regarding the two demands.

The delegation went to meet the chief minister at the initiative of Janwadi Lekhak Sangh (JLS).

Describing the inadequacy of the medical and treatment facilities during the illness of such eminent writers as Trilochan Shastri, Qurratul-Ain Hyder and Ramesh Azad, the delegation told the chief minister that the contemplated fund should be for such writers only as are fully dependent on writing, are not employed anywhere and don’t get pension from anywhere.

The delegation also informed the chief minister that there is strong resentment among the Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi writers over the undemocratic constitution and functioning of the governing councils of the respective academies and the appointment of non-writers as their vice presidents, secretaries and council members. This necessitates a thorough reconstitution of the governing councils on democratic lines. The delegation also demanded that all the academies under Delhi government must be brought in a single campus with essential facilities like libraries, seminar rooms, art galleries, rehearsal rooms, etc, besides their offices. This, incidentally, is a demand the chief minister has herself been harping upon.

Assuring a sympathetic consideration on both the drafts, the chief minister told the delegation that she would soon constitute a committee of seven writers regarding the initial moves needed for institution of the writers welfare fund. She said the delegation must itself select the seven names and inform her about it by October 28.

The delegation included Rajendra Yadav, Ashok Vajpayee, Maitreyi Pushpa, Vishnu Nagar, Ibbar Rabbi, Ravindra Tripathi, Ram Sharan Joshi, Pankaj Visht, Javrimal Parekh and Rekha Awasthi, besides the JLS general secretaries Murli Manohar Prasad Singh and Chanchal Chauhan, its state president Zubair Rizvi and state secretary Bali Singh.