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Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi (Bangla: পশ্চিমবঙ্গ বাংলা আকাদেমি), popularly known as Bangla Akademi, is the supreme academic body on affairs concerning Bangla language in West Bengal. The Akademi was officially established on 20 May, 1986 by the Government of West Bengal as a wing of its Information and Cultural Affairs Department. Later it was converted in a society and registered under Societies Registration Act. In 1994, the Akademi was declared an autonomous institution.
The Akademi is entrusted with the responsibility of composing official dictionaries and compiling terminology both administrative and academic, publishing books on various subjects and above all regulating and reforming the language. Besides the Akademi arranges seminars and discussions focusing various literary and cultural issues and organises meetings on birthdays of legendary personalities.
The Akademi is housed in two separate buildings, one at the Nandan-Rabindra Sadan Complex which is the cultural center of Kolkata and the other at Akademi’s Rabindra-Okakura Bhaban in Bidhannagar (Salt Lake). Annadashankar Roy was selected the first chairman of the Akademi. Though the Akademi was modeled after French Academy, its rules are, unlike the French Academy, not just advisory. The governments of West Bengal and Tripura as well as a considerable number of renowned private publishing houses and institutes such as Oxford University Press or the Ramakrishna Mission have accepted rules and regulations of the Akademi over the language.
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In 1893, Bengal Academy of Literature, the first academic association to promote Bangla language and literature was set up in Kolkata under the chairmanship of Binay Krishna Dev. On April 1894, this academy was reorganized and rechristened as Vangiya Sahitya Parishad (Literary Academy of Bengal). Romesh Chunder Dutt became the first chairman of the Parishad. Scholars like Chandranath Bose, Dwijendranath Tagore, Jagadish Chandra Bose, Prafulla Chandra Roy, Satyendranath Tagore, Haraprasad Shastri, Ramendra Sundar Trivedi glorified the post of the Parishad Chairman later. Rabindranath Tagore (Deputy Chairman: 1894-96, 1901, 1905-1909, 1917; Special Delegate: 1910) was closely related to this organization.
The Parishad endeavoured to compile Bangla dictionary and grammar, terminologies, philosophical and scientific; to collect ancient Bangla manuscript and publish; to translate books from other languages; to research on history, philosophy and science and publish a journal named Sahitya Parishad Patrika. For the next 100 years this great organization served Bengali intellect incessantly.
But in the middle of 20th Century, the affairs concerning promotion and reformation of Bangla language did not remain solely a responsibility of the Parishad. In the 1930s, the University of Calcutta turned to be the official reformer of the language and even Rabindranath Tagore accepted its rulings.
After the partition of India in 1947, the people of East Pakistan felt a need for a new Bangla linguistic body suiting their new nationality. As a result, Bangla Academy in Dhaka was established in 1955.
In West Bengal, various prominent institutions backed the process of development of the language, but that resulted inconsistency in it. For example, Rajsekhar Basu and Ananda Bazaar Patrika tried to simplify Bangla spelling; but instead of rationalize the spelling system, it aroused controversy over the authority of such bodies. Even institutions like Visva-Bharati University failed the tusk.
In the 1980s, a strong need of a pre-eminent Bangla academic institution was felt. With the general consent of Bengali intellect of the time, Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi, a wing a wing of the Information and Cultural Affairs Department of the Government of West Bengal started its function. Afterward it was converted in a society and registered under Societies Registration Act then an autonomous Governmental body in 1994. Annadashankar Roy was appointed the first chairman and Probodh Chandra Sen was the vice-chairman. After Sen’s death in the office Nanda Gopal Sengupta was appointed to his post. After Annadashankar Roy, Dr. Asit Kumar Bandyopadhyay holds his office and after Dr. Bandyopadhyay, Nirendranath Chakravarty, the present Chairman of the Akademi, was selected for the post. The names of personalities like Lila Majumdar, Chinmohan Sehanbish, Jagadish Bhattacharya, Sankha Ghose, Hirendranath Dutt, Gopal Haldar, Dr. Asit Kumar Bandyopadhyay, Rabindra Kumar Dasgupta, Arun Mitra, Satyajit Ray, Nirendranath Chakravarty, Golum Kuddus, Ashin Dasgupta, Sukumari Bhattacharya, Amitabha Dasgupta, Debesh Roy, Purnendu Patri, Amitabha Chowdhuri, Shakti Chattopadhyay, Professor Kazuo Azuma are closely associated to this establishment.
At the time of its foundation, the Akademi had 30 members in its Karma Samiti (Working Committee) and 78 in Sadharan Parishad (General Council) including the government delegation. The Chairman is called Sabhapati and Vice-Chairman is called Saha-Sabhapati. Members, officially known as Sadasyas, remain in the Akademi for life. However, any member can resign from his office by his will. In 2007, after the Nandigram massacre, some of Akademi members including Sankha Ghosh and Ashru Kumar Sikdar resigned from the Akademi. There is also a post of Secretary, or Sachib, who is the chief governmental delegation at the Akademi. The office of the Secretary of the Akademi is held by Sanat Kumar Chattopadhyay since its inception.
The members of the first Working Committee are: Annadashankar Roy (Chairman), Prabodh Chandra Sen (Vice-Chairman, but died after the foundation of working committee), Nanda Gopal Sengupta (Vice-Chairmen), Lila Majumdar, Khudiram Das, Nepal Majumdar, Shubhendu Shekhar Mukhopadhyay, Chinmohan Sehanbish, Pabitra Sarkar, Kanak Mukhopadhyay, Krishno Dhar, Jagadish Bhattacharya, Bhabatosh Dutta, Jyotirmoy Ghosh, Sankha Ghosh, Arun Kumar Basu, Nirmalya Acharya, Ashru Kumar Shikdar, Arun Kumar Mukhopadhyay, Prabir Roy Chowdhuri, Bhudeb Chowdhuri, Somendranath Bandyopadhyay, Bijit Kumar Dutta, Pallab Sengupta, Bhakti Prasad Mallick, Prashanta Kumar Dasgupta, Nirmal Das, Santosh Chakravarty (Later Ashok Dutta)- Director of Culture, Sanat Kumar Chattopadhyay- Secretary (Government Delegate), Amitabha Mukhopadhyay- Officer-in-Charge (Government Delegate).
The members of the first General Council are: (including the members of the Working Committee) Hirendranath Dutta, Manmatha Roy, Gopal Haldar, Debipada Bhattacharya, Sushil Kumar Mukhopadhyay, Gourinath Shastri, Rama Ranjan Mukhopadhyay, Nishith Ranjan Roy, Manindranath Ghosh, Manindra Kumar Ghosh, Dr. Asit Kumar Bandyopadhyay, Rabindra Kumar Dasgupta, Haraprasad Mitra, Arun Mitra, Satyajit Ray, Satyendranath Roy, Ajit Kumar Ghosh, Khsetra Gupta, Arabinda Poddar, Nirendranath Chakravarty, Golum Kuddus, Ashin Dasgupta, Khsitindra Narayan Bhattacharya, Saroj Mohan Mitra, Sukumari Bhattacharya, Subir Roy Chowdhuri, Manabendra Bandyopadhyay, Sourin Bhattacharya, Ashok Mukhopadhyay, Malini Bhattacharya, Bratindranath Mukhopadhyay, Manas Majumdar, Mohit Chattopadhyay, Narayan Chowdhuri, Samarendra Sengupta, Amitabha Dasgupta, Debesh Roy, Purnendu Patri, Shyam Sundar Dey, Amitabha Chowdhuri, Shakti Chattopadhyay, Debesh Das, Manas Roy Chowdhuri, Shibendranath Kanjilal, Sabitendranath Roy, Bibhas Bhattacharya, Dipankar Sen, Prasun Dutta, Dilip Bhattacharya – secretary, Information and Cultural Affairs Department.
Now the Akademi works under various sub-committees and editorial boards concerning different affairs. Some of these bodies are depicted below:
Akademi Banan Upo-Samiti or Akademi Spelling Sub-Committee was created to reform and rationalize Bangla spelling system. This Sub-Committee includes Nirendranath Chakravarty, Sankha Ghaosh, Pabitra Sarkar, Jyoti Bhushan Chaki, Nirmal Das, Ashok Mukhopadhyay, Subhash Bhattacharya, Amitabha Chowdhuri, Amitabha Mukhopadhyay, Sourin Bhattacharya, Prasun Dutta, Sanat Kumar Chattopadhyay, Arun Kumar Basu and Shubhomoy Mondal. On the recommendation of this Sub-Committee, the Akademi did its historical reforms on Bangla spelling.
Another important sub-committee is Paribhasha Upo-Samiti or Terminology Sub-Committee which is entrusted to compile standard Bangla terminologies for both academic and administrative purposes. This sub-committee includes Ananda Ghosh Hazra, Alapan Bandyaopadhyay, I.A.S., Krishno Dhar, Jyoti Bhushan Chaki, Nirendranath Chakravarty, Pabitra Sarkar, Sanat Kumar Chattopadhyay, Swapan Chowdhuri and Bhabatosh Tapadar.
Editorial boards are generally founded to edit works of great authors. One of such bodies that compiled the Complete Works of Kazi Nazrul Islam, includes Annadashankar Roy (advisor), Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Chief Minister of West Bengal (advisor), Kalpataru Sengupta, Arun Kumar Basu, Pabitra Sarkar, Golum Kuddus, Krishno Dhar, Manas Majumdar, Sumita Chakravarty, Bandhan Sengupta, Biswanath Roy, Prabhat Kumar Das, Shyamal Moitra And Sanat Kumar Chattopadhyay.
The Akademi is the official authority on Bangla language in West Bengal; although its recommendations carry no legal power — but still the educational boards and the universities of West Bengal and Tripura has deep regard for its rulings.
The Akademi accomplishes all its activities in close liaison with other academic and educational institutions including Universities engaged in various aspects of Bengali language, literature and culture. Apart from its own programs, it also arranges programs in cooperation with different such societies. Such activities are not confined to Kolkata only, but also in districts and sub-divisions, even in the other states.
The function of the Akademi was initially settled by a seminar held at Shishir Mancha, Kolkata from 24 February to 1 March. These seminars determined the rationale of the Akademi and proposed to make a design and blue print to achieve its goals.
The tasks entrusted on Bangla Akademi are:
(1) to rationalize and reform Bangla Script and spelling;
(2) to compile standard dictionaries, encyclopedias and grammar;
(3) to compile terminologies;
(4) to bridge the gap between Bangla and other languages through translations and other activities;
(5) to publish books for children;
(6) to perform research-oriented works on Bangla language, literature and culture and arrange scholarships for researchers;
(7) to distribute civil literary prizes;
(8) to publish books on different subjects;
(9) to publish an Akademi Magazine;
(10) to preserve an outstanding library;
(11) to preserve an world-class archive and museum;
(12) to conduct seminars and conferences and cultural festivals and fairs.
Scholars at the Bangla Akademi work to promote the Bangla language in various ways. They are doing research on spelling, grammar and the origin and development of Bangla. They are publishing works by prominent writers in the language. They have built a large library to preserve original manuscripts. The government of Japan has donated Rs. 500000 for research in the Academy. The government of West Bengal has also given a lump some amount of money. The Academy is spending the money on the Indo-Japan Cultural Center in Bidhannagar.
Various festivals are being conducted nowadays by Bangla Akademi, e.g., Kabita Utsab (Poetry Festival), Little Magazine Mela (Little Magazine Fair), Kathasahitya Utsab (Fiction Festival), Chhara Utsab (Rhyme Festival) etc.
Rabindra Puraskar (Tagore Prize) Anita-Sunil Basu Smriti Puraskar for poets under the age of 45 years.The award was started in the year 1997. It has a cash prize of Rs 12500 . Recipients are : Joy Goswami, Nirmal Haldar, Mridul Dasgupta, Subodh Sarkar, Sanjukta Bandopadhyay, Mallika Sengupta(2004), Prabal kumar Basu, Ishita Bhabudri(2005), Yashodhara Ray Chaudhuri( 2006).
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