Vibhuti Narain Rai - Awards and Honours

Awards and Honours

The novel Tabadla was awarded prestigious Indu Sharma Antarrastriya Katha Samman of London. Another novel Kissa Loktantra was honoured by Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan. Vibhuti Narain Rai is the founder editor of Vartman Sahitya, a leading Hindi Literary Magazine which is being published for last twenty years. He has been writing regular columns in various Hindi Magazines like Vagarth and Anyatha. Vibhuti Narain Rai has been an activist also who has been fighting against the fundamentalist and obscurantist forces of the country. Specially his novel Shahar Mein Curfew invited the wrath of these forced who even demanded ban on it. His book Combating Communal Conflict has been widely quoted by scholars working on communalism. He is invited by National and International bodies working on Communalism on issues related to state response to communal violence. As an activist he has established a library in his native village in a backward area of Eastern Uttar Pradesh. This library Sri Ramanand Saraswati Pustakalaya, Azamgarh was established to promote the culture of book reading and during its existence of 15 years it has become a prestigious cultural centre of the country which has developed a meaningful relationship with institutions like Sahitya Akademi, National Book Trust and National School of Drama.

National Police Academy, Hyderabad awarded him a fellowship on Police Neutrality during Communal strife. He produced a wonderful book out of this fellowship. This book Combating Communal Conflict was translated in Hindi and Urdu and is considered an authority on relationship of minorities with the state.

He is the President of NGO Saajhi Duniya which is involved in various activities including research work to create a better world.

Now, he has been appointed as the Vice Chancellor of Wardha-based Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya by the President of India.