Conferring the 'Yuva Puraskar' on young authors from two Indian languages in a ceremony here, Tiwari laid emphasis on the importance of Sahitya Akademi awards.
"Such honours are an acceptance by the society and it is on the basis of society's acceptance that institutions like Sahitya Akademi gives away these awards, which our writers should respect," Tiwari said in his speech delivered in Hindi.
"Lately, awards have been in media headlines. Four days ago, Bal Sahitya awards were conferred upon in Mumbai. Hosting such awards twice in a single week is a indeed a celebration, and this gives me immense pleasure," Tiwari said.
The Yuva Puraskar was given to 23 authors under the age of 35 years and includes a cheque of Rs 50,000 besides an engraved copper plaque.
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"For such occasions, honour is a more befitting term than awards, for the latter term gives a materialistic impression. But honour is above all this. The money that we receive can be shared with our children but the honour that we earn is extremely personal and cannot be shared. We cannot sell it, neither can we return it," Tiwari said.
Meanwhile, highlighting the importance of poetry and its
decreasing popularity among the younger generation, Vajpeyi said that the poetry helps in saving and creating language.
"We are moving into a society where poetry is becoming unimportant. It saves and creates language. The younger generation hardly has any knowledge about poetry and henceforth, language is contracting," Vajpeyi said.
He criticised religions for what he alleged a lack of spirituality in them.
"All religions have become violent, unmindful, aggressive and lack spirituality. Poetry is a medium with which one is reminded his responsibility towards society," he said.
"The Sahitya Akademi can decide whether they want to keep the awards or not, we have done our part and expressed our protest. But the fact remains that those who killed the writers and rationalists are still on the loose," Daruwala said.
The poetry festival is set to host discussions and sessions presided by various poets and essayists including Kamna Prasad, Rana Safvi, Rakshanda Jalil, Leeladhar Mandloi, Keki Daruwalla, Sudeep Sen, Urdu poet Farhat Shahzad.
The festival woould also have poetry recitals by children on the 2nd day along with a kids play, 'Kabuliwala'. The festival would also host an interactive session 'Arre Ruk Ja Re Bande - with actor and poet Piyush Mishra on December 19.