Mohan Singh

Mohan Singh is a poet, playwright, critic, actor and director who writes in Dogri, and the president of Duggar Manch, a voluntary body that works for the language, literature and culture of the Dogra region. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2023 in the field of literature and education, from Jammu and Kashmir ^[1].

A soldier’s son turned poet

Mohan Singh was born on 9 February 1955 in Samba district into a family of soldiers; his grandfather and father both served in the state forces ^[2]. His father, who had left the army rather than accept unfair treatment, taught him to stand up for justice ^[2]. Meeting the Dogri writer Kehri Singh Madhukar set him on the path of poetry, and through Madhukar he came to know other Dogri writers such as Ramnath Shastri and Dinu Bhai Pant ^[2].

A new voice in Dogri

He published his first book of poems, Uss Lok, in 1978, at 24, and brought a new idiom to Dogri poetry and drama ^[2]. He was the first writer of street plays in Dogri and in Jammu and Kashmir, and he formed Duggar Manch with a group of young writers and artists ^[2]. He has published 39 books of poetry, plays, street plays, novels and criticism, along with translations and compilations, and his plays are taught in MA courses at the University of Jammu and the Central University of Jammu ^[2].

The fight for Dogri

As convener of the Dogri Sangharsh Morcha, he campaigned for Dogri to be included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, which happened on 22 December 2003 ^[2]. He has also worked to save the region’s fading folk theatre, and acted in theatre, films, radio and television ^[2].

He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1991 for Apni Dafli Apna Raag, a collection of three plays, and its translation prize in 2001 ^[2].