MARGAO: Datta Damodar Naik, Sahitya Akademi Award winning Konkani writer, has made a proposal to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to allow Sahitya Akademi awardees from across India to spend a few days at the Indian Army base, Air Force base or Naval base.
Claiming that there was hardly any literature about the Indian Army, he has said that these writers could interview army officers and soldiers and write their experiences in the form of stories, reportages, travelogues and novelettes.
Naik’s proposal also says, “The authors should be given access to papers of the 1962 Indo-China War, 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak Wars and the 1999 Kargil War, within the framework of secrecy. If need be, these stories/reportages/travelogues/novelettes could be shown to higher authorities in the Defence Forces so that there is no violation of secrecy.”
Naik stated that the Central HRD Ministry and Education Departments from various State governments could then include these stories in school and college text books.
“This will go a long way in inculcating the spirit of patriotism and will definitely encourage the youth to join the Indian Defence Forces,” said Naik.
Naik has made this proposal to Defence Minister as there is hardly any literature concerning the Indian army, except for a novel ‘Rarang Dhang’ written by Prabhakar Pendharkar and few stories written by Mahabaleshwar Sail.
Datta Naik has marked copy of his letter to the Central HRD Minister and the Sahitya Akademi president.
