Who became the first Indian to receive the Richard Dawkins Award?

Explanation

The poet, lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar received the Richard Dawkins Award in 2020, becoming the first Indian to receive it. He was honoured for his critical thinking, his defence of secularism and free speech, and his work in promoting rational and scientific thinking.

The Richard Dawkins Award is named after Richard Dawkins, the British evolutionary biologist and author of books such as "The Selfish Gene" (1976) and "The God Delusion" (2006). The award is given every year to a well-known person who has promoted science, reason and secular values. Its earlier recipients include scientists, writers and comedians from around the world.

Javed Akhtar was born in 1945 in Gwalior. His father, Jan Nisar Akhtar, was a well-known Urdu poet, and his mother, Safia Akhtar, was a writer and teacher. He moved to Mumbai in 1964 and, together with Salim Khan, formed the famous screenwriting team Salim-Javed. They wrote the scripts of many hit films of the 1970s, such as "Zanjeer" (1973), "Deewaar" (1975) and "Sholay" (1975), which created the "angry young man" image of Amitabh Bachchan. Later, he became one of the most famous lyricists of Hindi cinema, writing songs for films such as "1942: A Love Story", "Lagaan" and "Dil Chahta Hai", and he has won several National Film Awards for Best Lyrics. He received the Padma Shri (1999), the Padma Bhushan (2007) and the Sahitya Akademi Award (2013) for his Urdu poetry collection "Lava". He was also a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha. He is married to the actress Shabana Azmi.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Gulzar is a famous poet, lyricist and film director who won an Oscar and a Grammy for "Jai Ho".
• ✗Shabana Azmi is a famous actress and Javed Akhtar's wife.
• ✗Kailash Satyarthi is a child rights activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize (2014).