CHENNAI: DMK MP Thamizhachi Thangapandian has raised concern over the indefinite postponement of the announcement of the 2025 Sahitya Akademi Awards, warning that the move could undermine the autonomy of one of India’s premier cultural institutions.
In a letter she submitted to Union Minister for Culture and Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in Delhi on Monday, Thamizhachi said the delay reportedly followed directions from the Union Ministry of Culture to the Sahitya Akademi, citing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and a proposed restructuring of award procedures.
The awards were scheduled to be announced on December 18, 2025. She noted that it was worrying that the intervention appeared to have come after jury deliberations had concluded and recommendations had been finalised.
Introducing procedural changes retrospectively, she said, raised serious questions of fairness, propriety and institutional integrity.
The MP underlined that the Sahitya Akademi occupies a significant position in India’s cultural landscape, with its credibility resting on peer-based evaluation insulated from executive interference.
Any dilution of this principle, she warned, could erode public confidence not just in the Akademi but across national cultural bodies.
She flagged the lack of transparency surrounding the MoU reportedly invoked by the ministry, pointing out that it had not been placed in the public domain and that the scope of ministerial authority over the Akademi’s selection process remained unclear.