Sanjiv Saraf (born 30 December 1958) is an Indian entrepreneur, philanthropist, and author. He founded Rekhta Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation which promotes

Urdu literature Urdu literature (, ) comprises the literary works, written in the Urdu language. While it tends to be dominated by poetry, especially the verse forms of the ''ghazal'' () and '' nazm'' (), it has expanded into other styles of writing, includin ...

. The Foundation has curated the

Rekhta ''Rekhta'' ( ; ''Rekhtā'') was an early form of the Hindustani language. This style evolved in both the Perso-Arabic and Nagari scripts and is considered an early form of Standard Urdu and Modern Standard Hindi. According to the Pakistan ...

portal to document Urdu literary works and it hosts Jashn-e-Rekhta, an annual literary festival, since 2015. Saraf wrote ''Love Longing Loss'' and ''Nava-e-Sarosh'', focusing on Urdu literature and culture.

Biography

Saraf was born on 30 December 1958. He graduated from

Scindia School The Scindia School is a residential boys’ school established in 1897 and situated in the Gwalior Fort in Gwalior, India. Initially called the Sardar’s School, it primarily served the sons of Indian royals and nobles. In 1933, the school bega ...

Gwalior Gwalior (Hindi: , ) is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; It is known as the Music City of India having oldest Gwalior gharana, musical gharana in existence. It is a major sports, cultural, industrial, and political c ...

in 1975. He later graduated from

IIT Kharagpur The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur or IIT-KGP) is a public institute of technology, research university, and autonomous institute established by the Government of India in Kharagpur, West Bengal. Founded in 1951, the in ...

in the year 1980 after which he joined the family business. In 1984, he established Polyplex Corporation, a major producer of thin polyester films. Polyplex is among the thirty five Indian companies in

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

Asia's 'Best Under a Billion' list. Manupatra, India’s legal online resource, was also founded by Sanjiv Saraf in the year 2000. He established the Rekhta Foundation in 2013. He obtained an honorary doctorate from

Maulana Azad National Urdu University Maulana Azad National Urdu University is a Central University located in the city of Hyderabad in the Indian state of Telangana. It was named after Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, India's first Minister of Education, a freedom fighter in India's str ...

Hyderabad in 2016 for his work in reviving the interest in Urdu language. In 2020 he was awarded with the Madhav Award by the Scindia school.

Awards

* 2018 - Sir Syed Excellence Award awarded by

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University is a Collegiate university, collegiate, Central university (India), central, and Research university, research university located in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Kh ...

in 2018, for the contribution in promoting Urdu. * 2020 - Madhav Award by Scindia School, Gwalior in 2020, for the entrepreneurial spirit, community service and promotion of Urdu. * 2013 - Farogh-e-Urdu Award by Nai Duniya in 2013 for the development of Urdu language. * 2018 - Alamdar-e-Urdu by Bazm-e-Urdu, Dubai in 2018 for non-scholarly contributions in promoting Urdu. * 2016 - Mir Taqi Mir Award by AFMI (American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin) in 2016 for the promotion of Urdu language.

References

{{reflist

External links

Profile on Rekhta.org
Living people 21st-century Indian businesspeople 21st-century Indian philanthropists 21st-century Indian writers IIT Kharagpur alumni Maulana Azad National Urdu University alumni 1958 births