Among Padma Shri awardees, author from Haryana who lost father at 3, ‘raagi’ with 100 albums to credit
The Padam Shri Awards, 2025, were announced on Saturday.
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Sant Ram Deswal and Bhai Harjinder Singh Srinagar Wale.A renowned Hindi author from Haryana Sant Ram Deswal, who had lost his farmer father at the age of just three, has been honoured with “Padam Shri Award-2025” for his contribution in the sector of literature and education.
Hailing from Kherka Gurjar village of Jhajjar district in Haryana, Deswal (70) had to face a lot of struggles during his early life after he lost his father Sada Ram during childhood. But with the blessings of his mother Daraka Devi and grandfather Mohan Lal, Deswal did not leave his dreams and completed his schooling from the government schools in the neighbouring villages.
Remembering his days of struggle, Deswal told The Indian Express, “I used to cycle for 15 km from village to the government college situated in neighbouring town Jhajjar. During my school and college days, I participated in essay writing competitions and won the awards at national level too.”
A law graduate from Rohtak’s Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU), Deswal had also done his post-graduation in Hindi and English from the same university apart from securing a few more degrees and diplomas. His first book on Hindi literature was published in 1987. Till now, he has authored 30 books of Lalit Nibandh, poetry, memoir, biography, travelogue in Hindi and Haryanvi folk literature apart from his columns in the newspapers.
Deswal says: “Since childhood, I have had a lot of interest in literature. But I don’t know why. The family too had no educational background. However, I began participating in an essay writing competition apart from penning poems during school days.” Having a 30-year-long experience as associate professor of Hindi in a Sonipat college, Deswal is an educationist of repute.
Earlier, too, he has been honoured with ‘Mahakavi Surdas Ajeevan Sahitya Sadhana Award’ and ‘Jankavi Mehar Singh Award’ by Haryana Sahitya Academy. The Academy had also honoured him with two best book awards. He was also honoured with Best Programme Officer (NSS) award of Rohtak’s Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) during his college days apart from state and central government’s appreciation certificates in the field of social reforms. The Haryana governor had earlier given him an “appreciation letter” for eradicating social evils including campaign against dowry and illetary. With the help of villages, Deswal had succeeded to make the village Jagdishpur of Sonipat district as a complete literate village nearly three decades back for which he was honoured by the government.
Bhai Harjinder Singh Srinagar Wale
He is a revered raagi known for his melodious Gurbani Kirtan (traditional singing of Sikh verses) and his emotional poetry on Sahibzaadas (sons) of Guru Gobind Singh.
He has released over 100 albums which include close to 650 shabads. Bhai Harjinder Singh has been doing kirtan for over 25 years. His brother Bhai Maninder Singh is also a popular raagi and plays harmonium.
Bhai Harjinder Singh, Bhai Maninder Singh and Bhai Jatinder Pal Singh (Sri Nagar wale) is a raagi jatha (a group of devotional singers in Sikhism) who are well known to most Sikhs globally. They have been performing kirtan from a very young age and are self-taught.
Harjinder Singh was born in 1958 in Balarwal village of Gurdaspur district in Punjab. His father was also a raagi.
He is a student of Shaheed Sikh Missionary College, Amritsar of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. He had started doing Kirtan at a Gurdwara in Srinagar of Jammu and Kashmir for a few years. In 1983, he shifted to Ludhiana and currently resides there.
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