Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday exhorted litterateurs to promote moral values and patriotism among the youth through creative writing.

Expressing these views after honouring litterateurs in Sanskrit and Punjabi with state level awards here, Hooda said that the contribution of litterateurs in India's development could not be ignored.

Hooda gave away the Rs.100,000 Maharishi Valmiki award to Sanskrit writer Jai Narayan Shastri.

The Maharishi Ved Vyas and Ban Bhatt Sanskrit awards of Rs.51,000 each were given to Bharat Bhushan Sanghi and Virender Kumar Alankar.

The Rs.100,000 award of Punjabi litterateur was given to Rajender Singh Bhatti. G.D. Chaudhary and Amrik Singh were also honoured with Punjabi writings award of Rs.51,000 each.

"Sanskrit language is the mother of all languages and Vedas, Puranas, Upnishads, Mahabharata and Srimad Bhagwad Gita had been written in Sanskrit language. A number of Sanskrit language words had been found in the other languages also," Hooda said.

He said that his government would encourage all languages, and it was in that direction that the award money had been enhanced for Sanskrit and Punjabi literature awards. IANS