Thaindian News

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) Noted scholar and Hispanist S.P. Ganguly was Thursday awarded one of Peru’s highest civilian honours - Order of Merit for Distinguished Services - for strengthening cultural links between India and the Latin American nation.

The award, La Orden Al Merito por Servicios Distinguidos en el Grado de Comendador, was presented by Peruvian Ambassador Javier Paulinich at his residence here.

The award carries a gold medallion and a citation.

Calling Ganguly a “friend of Peru”, Paulinich said he had “played a special role between India and Latin America”.

Ganguly, 65, a professor and scholar of Spanish and Latin American studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), said he was delighted at the honour.

Speaking on the occasion, he said the honour has “restored recognition on the whole group of scholars who have chosen to dedicate themselves to the promotion of Peruvian and Latin American cultural and literary studies in India… The richest academic experience in my life has been to teach and write on Latin American fiction and poetry as well as promote comparative Indo-Hispanic studies. this has been possible because of the institutional backing of JNU.”

The award is in recognition of “his valuable contribution, for more than 30 years, in the diffusion and promotion of knowledge on history, society, culture and literature of Peru and Latin America through his writings and guidance of research in India and abroad and for his mark as teacher in Spanish and Latin American Studies at JNU”, the embassy said.