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in all aspects of theatre, including theatre history, production, scene design,
costume design, lighting, make-up, etc. The training course at NSD is of three
years duration. The eligible applicants for admission to the course are screened
through two stages. The Diploma of NSD is recognized by the Association of
Indian Universities as equivalent to M.A. Degree for appointment as teachers
in colleges/universities and for purposes of registration for Ph.D. The School
has a performing wing, a Repertory Company to establish professional theatre
and regular experimental work. The NSD has promoted children's theatre. It
(renamed as Sanskar Rang Toli) was founded in 1989 and has been actively
involved in production of plays for children, organizing summer theatre
workshops in the schools of Delhi and also promoting children's theatre through
Saturday Club. Since 1998, the School has organized National Theatre Festival
for Children christened 'Jashne Bachpan' every year. The first ever National
Theatre Festival christened was held from March 18 to April 14, 1999 to
commemorate the 50th year of India's Independence has been made an annual
feature.
A short-term teaching and training programme titled 'Extension
Programme' was started in 1978, under which, the school organizes workshops
in collaboration with the local theatre groups/artists and these programmes
are invariably held in the local languages. The workshops could be broadly
divided under three categories, production oriented workshops, production
oriented children's workshops and teaching and training programmes in
Theatre. The School has a Regional Research Centre at Bengaluru to cater to the
theatrical needs of the four southern states and Puducherry. The School also
publishes textbooks on theatre and also arranges for translation of important
books on theatre from English into Hindi.
Sahitya Akademi
Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters promotes literature in
24 languages of India recognized by it. It organizes programmes, confers Awards
and Fellowships on writers in Indian languages and publishes books throughout
the year and in 24 recognized languages. Over the past six decades, the Akademi
has published over 7000 books in 24 languages. The Akademi publishes original
works and also works in translation - fiction, poetry, drama and criticism -
covering classical, medieval, pre-modern and contemporary literature. Sahitya
Akademi publishes three journals, Indian Literature (bi-monthly in English),
Samkaleena Bhartiya Sahitya (bi-monthly in Hindi) and Sanskrit Pratibha (quarterly
in Sanskrit). The Akademi is also involved in promoting quality children's
literature. The Akademi's Head Office is situated in New Delhi with offices in
Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai.
Akademi Awards are most prestigious literary awards in India. Sahitya
Akademi Award [the Award carries the prize money of ` 1 lakh and citation],
awarded to the most outstanding book(s) of literary merit published in the 24
Indian languages recognized by the Akademi. Bhasha Samman [the Award
carries the prize money of ` 1 lakh and citation] is given to writers / scholars /