Patiala News:The ability to bring revolutionary changes in the Punjabi language – Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan

S. Sandhwan inaugurated the month-long events of the Language Department Punjab

Literary and cultural events will be held in the state for a month under Punjabi Month-2026

Best Punjabi Book Award presented to 10 writers

Punjabi Month-2026 celebrations, which are being celebrated by the Language Department Punjab under the patronage of the Punjab Government, were held today by S. Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Speaker Punjab Vidhan Sabha. The event, which was led by Director of the Language Department S. Jaswant Singh Zafar, was presided over by the Vice Chancellor of Punjabi University Patiala, Dr. Jagdeep Singh, and the President of Punjab Sahitya Akademi Chandigarh, Dr. Atam Randhawa, delivered the keynote address. On this occasion, the young Sufi singer Yakub captivated everyone with his melodious and clean singing. On this occasion, 10 writers were honored with the Best Punjabi Book Awards.

Chief Guest S. Kultar Singh Sandhwan said that Punjabi is not only a means of communication but also a power. Through which great changes have been happening from time to time. He said that our Gurus have done a great service who have given the message of humanity to the entire humanity through their Bani through Punjabi language. Due to which the world will always salute their greatness. S. Sandhwan said that today is not an opportunity to distribute the best awards but a day to salute the hard work and greatness of the writers. He said that writing a book is not just a task of writing words on paper but also the transmission of a language to the next generations. He appealed to everyone to first of all take a pledge to implement Punjabi from their families. He said that the Punjab government is committed to the development and spread of the Punjabi language.

In his welcome speech, S. Jaswant Singh Zafar said that the purpose of celebrating Punjab Day is to remember our devastation and not to be devastated again in the future. He said that we have the most fertile region in the world but we are not taking proper care of our natural resources due to which we have never been able to prosper. Our dreams are also very big, we have a lot of learning capacity and we have made a lot of progress but we have not been able to join the good people of the world, the main reason for this is that we do not let anyone else come forward and in this race we get divided. He said that our country has become independent but we have lost our homeland. Which can never be compensated.

In his presidential address, Dr. Jagdeep Singh said that Punjabi University is making efforts to introduce Punjabi subjects in science courses at post-graduation level. Along with this, efforts are being made to prepare science, commerce and engineering text books in Punjabi. Punjabi University has always been a champion of Punjabi language, culture and Punjabiyat.

In the keynote address, Dr. Atam Randhawa said that in the era of AI, there is a need to make continuous efforts to make Punjabi language relevant to the times. For which we all should make joint efforts. He said that Punjabi is a language that also communicates moral values. The direct proof of which is seen in its relationship system. Singer Yakub took the atmosphere to the peak with the songs Challa, Dama Dam Mast Kalandhar, Mahiya and other songs and captivated the hearts of the audience who came from all over the state. The stage was conducted by Research Officer Dr. Sukhdarshan Singh Chahal.

Award Distribution:

On this occasion, 10 awards of various categories and 01 Dr. Surjit Patar Yuva Sahitya Award were presented under the Punjabi Best Book Awards. For these awards, books published during the last year 2025 were sought for the Best Punjabi Book Awards and these books were evaluated by scholars from various fields and the best books were selected. In this award, a prize money of 31,000/- along with a citation and a plaque of honor will be presented. 282 books of various genres were received for these awards.

On this occasion, under the Best Punjabi Book Awards, Bhai Vir Singh Award (Autobiography) to Waryam Mast’s book ‘Rangmanch De Din’, Nanak Singh Award (Novel) to Jaspal Mankhera’s book ‘Haveliala’, Prin Sujan Singh Award (Story) to Bhupinder Singh Mann’s book ‘Lal Ratta’, Gurbaksh Singh Preetlari Award (Essay) to Ajay Tanvir’s book ‘Jadunagari De Jadugar’, Giani Gurmukh Singh Musafir Award (Poetry) to Dr. Navdeep Kaur’s book ‘Ahilya’, Ishwar Chandra Nanda Award (Drama) to Kulbir Malik’s book ‘Dak Nit Aankht…’, Prof. Gurdial Singh Award (Translation) to Jang Bahadur Goyal’s book ‘Jangal To Paar (Sita Ratnamal)’, M.S. Randhawa Award (Editing) to Prin. Lovely S. Pannu’s book ‘Puadhi Lok-Kavi (Tappe and Jakkarian)’ and Dr. Atar Singh Award (Research) will be given to Dr. Dharam Singh’s book ‘Pragat Bhaye Gur Teg Bahadur’. Dr. Surjit Patar Youth Award was given to the book ‘Vaitrani’ of emerging poet Surkhab. Apart from this, under special honors, Dr. Ranjit Singh, Bhupinder Dulay Toronto, Harkirat Kaur Chahal Canada, Prof. Arvinder Singh Ghanaur, Manjinder Singh was honored as the best employee. On this occasion, Prin. S. S. Rishi, Dr. Balvir Kaur Pandher, Ranjit Singh Australia, Dr. Gurmukh Singh, Dr. Surjit Singh, Padma Shri Pran Sabharwal, Swami Antarnirav, Gurpreet Mansa, Jagdish Rai Kulriya, Darshan Buttar, Balwinder Sandhu, Avtarjit Singh, Pawan Harchandpuri and various District Language Officers were present