CALCUTTA, July 24: Mahasweta Devi, eminent litterateur, who champions tribal communities, has been conferred with the Ramon Magsaysay award, 1997, for journalism, literature and creative communication arts.

The awards council's announcement in Manila today cited her for her ``compassionate crusade through art and activism to claim for tribal people a just and honourable place in India's national life''.

``It is good to win an award but my life is getting more and more crowded and I am not getting enough time to write,'' said the 71-year-old writer after receiving a faxed message from Manila.

She is the second Indian to receive this year's Magsaysay award, the other being environmentalist M C Mehta.

Born in 1926 in Dhaka, now the capital of Bangladesh, Mahasweta Devi was educated in Shantiniketan. She later obtained her Master's degree in English Literature from Calcutta University. Author of a number of books, she started her writing career in 1956. She earned much acclaim for her works like Araneyar Adhikar (Rights of the Forest), based on the life of tribal freedom fighter Birsa Munda, Rudali (now adapted by screen and stage directors), besides many other novels like Hajar Churashir Maa (Mother of 1084). For the past 15 years, she has been working with the Kheria Sabar tribe branded a criminal tribe in West Bengal's Purulia district.

During the '70s, Mahasweta Devi also travelled widely in the rural areas of West Bengal and wrote a series of articles in a vernacular daily against the oppression of the tribal people.

Mahasweta Devi is also the recipient of last year's Jnanpith award, the highest literary honour in the country. ``I will continue to work for the tribals, non-tribal poor and people in distress and write for them,'' she said.

Mahasweta Devi said the tribals will be happy when they would come to know of this award which contains a certificate and a cash prize of $ 50,000. ``I get tremendous inspiration from them,'' she said. ``It's wonderful news. I have not seen a spirited lady like her. She has done a remarkable job for the tribals,'' eminent Bengali writer-journalist Sunil Gangopadhyay said. ``She is the most deserving candidate and a great writer of our time,'' he added.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.