President Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday conferred the 47th Jnanpith Award, the country's highest literary award, for the year 2011 on noted writer Pratibha Ray.
Mukherjee said on the occasion that Ray has been described as a complete writer with novels, short stories, children's stories, autobiography, translations and also a volume of lyrics to her credit.
"I would like to see our schools and colleges encourage the reading of the abundant prose and verse that has been published in our vernacular languages. This would educate our young about distant regions that they may not be aware of - and make them more sensitive to the social, religious and cultural diversities of our country," he said.
