Vibhuti Narain Rai

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Vibhuti Narain Rai
Born (1951-11-28) November 28, 1951
Jaunpur(Azamgarh), Uttar Pradesh
Occupation Writer, Novelist, Activist, Translator, Police Director General(IPS), Now posted as Vice Chancellor, Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya,
Nationality Indian
Citizenship Indian
Education M.A. English
Notable work(s) Ghar, Shahar Mein Curfew, Kissa Loktantra etc.
Notable award(s) Indu Sharma Antarrastriya Katha Samman
Police Neutrality Fellowship Award
vibhutinarain.blogspot.com

Vibhuti Narain Rai(born 28 November 1951) did M.A. in English Literature from Allahabad University in the year 1971. He joined Indian Police Service in 1975 and was allotted Uttar Pradesh cadre. He served many sensitive districts as Superintendent of Police.

He was on deputation to Govt. Of India for ten years from 1992 to 2001. His deputation included posting in anti insurgency operations in Kashmir Valley during 1993-94. Presently he is posted as Additional Director General of Police in Uttar Pradesh. He has been awarded President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Services and Police Medal for Meritorious Services.

Apart from being a distinguished police officer Vibhuti Narain Rai is an acclaimed writer of Hindi Literature. He has written five novels – Ghar, Shahar Mein Curfew, Kissa Loktantra, Tabadla and Prem Ki Bhoot Katha and all of them were received warmly by the critics and readers of Hindi. His novel Shahar Mein Curfew was translated in Assamese, Bengali, English, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi and Urdu. Other novels were also translated in many languages. He also writes satires and his collection of satires Ek Chhatra Neta Ka Rojnamcha was widely appreciated.

Shahar Mein curfew

In 1988, Vibhuti Narain Rai published a Hindi novel entitled Shahar Mein Curfew (Curfew in the City).[1] Its theme was a 1980 Hindu-Muslim riot in the city of Allahabad, and Rai wrote freely about how religious prejudice in the Hindu dominated police force and provincial administration led to Muslim citizens' being viewed as enemies and thus becoming easy targets of brutality and murder.[2] The Vishwa Hindu Parishad readily took offense and denounced the novel for being anti-Hindu.[3] It now wants a ban imposed on the novel, and when Ashok Singhal, secretary general of the V.H.P., was told of a producer wanting to turn the story into a film, he threatened to burn down theatres that dared to screen the planned film.[4] All this ire surrounds a project that has still not begun and a work of fiction that at no point directly criticizes any Hindu organization.[5] It is worthwhile to quote here from a recent interview given by the author: "The intolerance of dissent is increasing in our society and the Ayodhya mobilization has largely contributed to this disturbing trend. The attacks on inconvenient writers and dissenting journalists are in fact motivated by a desire to silence all criticism and all reason, thereby making the very existence of rationally-thinking people redundant to the social and political process. This is extremely distressing."[6]

Awards and honours

The novel Tabadla was awarded prestigious Indu Sharma Antarrastriya Katha Samman of London. Another novel Kissa Loktantra was honoured by Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan. Vibhuti Narain Rai is the founder editor of Vartman Sahitya, a leading Hindi Literary Magazine which is being published for last twenty years. He has been writing regular columns in various Hindi Magazines like Vagarth and Anyatha. Vibhuti Narain Rai has been an activist also who has been fighting against the fundamentalist and obscurantist forces of the country. Specially his novel Shahar Mein Curfew invited the wrath of these forced who even demanded ban on it. His book Combating Communal Conflict has been widely quoted by scholars working on communalism. He is invited by National and International bodies working on Communalism on issues related to state response to communal violence. As an activist he has established a library in his native village in a backward area of Eastern Uttar Pradesh. This library Sri Ramanand Saraswati Pustakalaya, Azamgarh was established to promote the culture of book reading and during its existence of 15 years it has become a prestigious cultural centre of the country which has developed a meaningful relationship with institutions like Sahitya Akademi, National Book Trust and National School of Drama.

National Police Academy, Hyderabad awarded him a fellowship on Police Neutrality during Communal strife. He produced a wonderful book out of this fellowship. This book Combating Communal Conflict was translated in Hindi and Urdu and is considered an authority on relationship of minorities with the state.

He is the President of NGO Saajhi Duniya which is involved in various activities including research work to create a better world.[7]

Now, he has been appointed as the Vice Chancellor of Wardha-based Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya by the President of India.[8]

Works in Hindi

Novels

  • Ghar
  • Shahar Mein Curfew
  • Kissa Loktantra
  • Tabadla
  • Prem Ki Bhoot Katha

Satire

  • Ek Chhatra Neta Ka Rojnamcha

Criticism

  • Katha Sahitya Ke Sau Baras
  • "Ranbhumi mein bhasha"

Works in English

  • Combating Communal Conflict
  • Communal Conflicts: Perception of Police Neutrality During Hindu-Muslim Riots in India, Renaissance Pub. House (1998)

Translations into English

  • Curfew in the City, translated by C. M. Naim, New Delhi: Roli Books, 1998.
  • Tabadala, translated by Zeba Alvi to Urdu in Karachi (Pakistan) 2009.

References

  1. ↑ Marty & others, Martin E. (2004). Fundamentalisms Comprehended (The Fundamentalism Project) (Paperback). University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-50888-7. 
  2. ↑ Marty & others, Martin E. (2004). Fundamentalisms Comprehended (The Fundamentalism Project) (Paperback). University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-50888-7. 
  3. ↑ Marty & others, Martin E. (2004). Fundamentalisms Comprehended (The Fundamentalism Project) (Paperback). University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-50888-7. 
  4. ↑ Marty & others, Martin E. (2004). Fundamentalisms Comprehended (The Fundamentalism Project) (Paperback). University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-50888-7. 
  5. ↑ Marty & others, Martin E. (2004). Fundamentalisms Comprehended (The Fundamentalism Project) (Paperback). University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-50888-7. 
  6. ↑ Marty & others, Martin E. (2004). Fundamentalisms Comprehended (The Fundamentalism Project) (Paperback). University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-50888-7. 
  7. ↑ "Study of textbooks evokes concern". The Times of India. 2005-05-03. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  8. ↑ "Vibhuti Narain Rai is Hindi university VC". The Times of India. 2008-09-04. Retrieved 2008-10-29. 
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