Obituary

Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul
17th August 1932 - 11th August 2018

Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, most commonly known as V. S. Naipaul, and informally, Vidia Naipaul, was a Trinidad-born British writer of works of fiction and nonfiction in English. He is known for his comic early novels set in Trinidad, his bleaker later novels of the wider world, and his vigilant chronicles of life and travels. He wrote in prose that was widely admired, but his views sometimes aroused controversy. He published more than thirty books over some fifty years.

Sir Naipaul won the Booker Prize in 1971 for his novel In a Free State. In 1989, he was awarded the Trinity Cross, 's highest national honour. He received a knighthood in Britain in 1990, and in 2001, the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was awarded the International Col. James Tod award for 1999-2000 by Maharana of Charitable Foundation

His breakthrough novel - A House for Mr. Biswas was published in 1961. On the fiftieth anniversary of its publication, he dedicated it to Patricia Anne Hale, to whom he was married from 1955 until her death in 1996, and who had served as first reader, editor, and critic of his writings.

Shriji presenting the International Col. James Tod award for 1999-2000 to Sir V.S. Naipaul on 9th April 2000

Mr. Kuldip Nayar
14th August 1923 - 23rd August 2018

Mr. Kuldip Nayar was an Indian journalist, syndicated columnist, human rights activist, author and former High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom noted for his long career as a left-wing political commentator. He was also nominated as a member of the Upper House of the Indian Parliament in 1997.

Mr. Nayar was born at Sialkot, Punjab, British India on 14th August 1923. He completed his B.A. (Hons.) from the Forman Christian College Lahore and LL.B. from the Law College Lahore. In 1952, he studied journalism from the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University on a scholarship.

Earlier he was initially an Urdu press reporter. He was editor of the Delhi edition of the English newspaper The Statesman and was arrested towards the end of the Indian Emergency (1975-77).

He wrote syndicated columns and op-eds that were published in over 80 newspapers in 14 languages including the Deccan Herald (Bengaluru), The Daily Star, The Sunday Guardian, The News, The Statesman, The Express Tribune, Dawn, and PrabhaSakshi.

He was awarded Haldighati Award by Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation in the year 1988 beside this he was the recipient of Astor Award for Press Freedom - 2003; Shaheed Niyogi Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement - 2007.

Shriji presenting Haldighati Award to Mr. Kuldip Nayar on 10th April 1988