R. Vairamuthu Conferred 60th Jnanpith Award

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Prominent Tamil poet and lyricist **R. Vairamuthu** has been selected for the **60th Jnanpith Award** for the year **2025**.
He is only the third Tamil writer to receive this honor after **Akilan** and **Jayakanthan**, ending a **24-year** wait for Tamil literature.
He previously received the **Sahitya Akademi Award** in **2003** for his novel **Kallikattu Ithikasam**.

Instituted in **1961** by **Bharatiya Jnanpith**, this award is India's highest literary honor for extraordinary lifetime contributions by writers.
Widely considered as the **"Nobel Prize of Indian literature,"** it celebrates the country's rich linguistic diversity and literary traditions.
Industrialist **Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain** and his wife **Rama Jain** established the award through **Bharatiya Jnanpith**, a cultural body created in **1944**, with **G. Sankara Kurup** receiving the first award in **1965** for Malayalam literature.
Writer **Ashapurna Devi** became the first female winner in **1976** for Bengali literature, while **Amitav Ghosh** became the first English author to win it in **2018**.
The award is given annually to an Indian citizen, moving from rewarding a single book between **1965** and **1981** to honoring an author's complete lifetime work from **1982** onwards.
Writers in all **22** languages listed in the **Eighth Schedule** along with English are eligible, but the award is never given posthumously.
Winners receive **Rs 11 lakh** in cash, a citation, and a bronze idol of **Vagdevi (Saraswati)**, usually presented by the **President** of India.
A selection committee named **Pravara Parishad**, consisting of top scholars and experts, evaluates candidates based on literary creativity and cultural impact.