President Pranab Mukherjee today awarded 28 persons, including three journalists and an ISRO scientist, for their outstanding contribution towards the development and spread of Hindi language.
The awards for the years 2010 and 2011 were given under seven categories at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Shamtorf Azad from Uzbekistan and Woo Jo Kim from South Korea were the two foreign nationals awarded the Dr George Grierson Award for the spread of Hindi in foreign lands.
Senior ISRO scientist Kali Shankar was awarded the Atmaram Award for his writings in Hindi on scientific and technical subjects.
Acclaimed writer Ved Rahi and Asrar Wajahat were awarded the Mahapandit Rahul Sanskritayan award. The award is given for research in Hindi and travelogues.
Incidentally, Wajahat is also a member of the Executive Council which nominates names for the awards.
The 'Hindi Sevi Samman' under which awards are given in various categories was started by the Kendriya Hindi Sansthan of the HRD Ministry.
Renowned Hindi poet, author, playwright and a social thinker Dharmaveer Bharti was among the first recipients of the Ganesh Shankar Vidyarti Award.
Journalists Ravish Kumar, Dilip Kumar Choubey and Govind Singh were awarded the Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Award for their contribution to Hindi journalism.
HRD Minister Smriti Irani was present at the award ceremony.
