Highlights Out of 39 writers, who announced to return their awards, 26 did not return their souvenirs, only 13 returned their mementos The four authors neither returned their memento nor their prize money, but returned merely their award Only 13 authors returned both money and souvenirs, while 35 out of 39 scholars have made an offer to return the prize money through cheques to the Sahitya Akademi New Delhi: When Narendra Modi became Prime Minister after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the country witnessed a new wave of protest, wherein, several scholars and litterateurs announced to return their awards. This has started especially in the wake of incidents that occurred at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh in 2015, and in Karnataka. These writers and ideologues had expressed their dismay over increasing intolerance in the country and decided to return their awards in the protest.