Kalpetta Narayanan
Akademi president Kalpetta Narayanan and secretary M P Surendran told reporters that an independent audit would be conducted into various aspects of the institution’s functioning over the past 10 years, including the selection of award winners and administrative procedures. Of the ₹3.45 crore earmarked as plan funds for the institution, only ₹1.20 crore has been received so far. Surendran said multiple initiatives would be launched to address the akademi’s financial crisis.
Thrissur : The newly appointed office-bearers of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi said on Wednesday that they would strive to make the institution an “all-inclusive institution”, with individual political affiliations of writers not being a criterion for their inclusion in academy activities. The focus of the akademi’s activities would be on celebrating diverse sensibilities, taking literature to wider sections of society and ending all forms of political discrimination, Narayanan said. He said the award selection process would be made more transparent and credible, and the norms would be amended wherever necessary to achieve these objectives. Narayanan said that, instead of a literary festival, a cultural festival would be organised in collaboration with other academies and cultural institutions. The inaugural edition of the cultural festival would be held in Thrissur, he said.