♦ Eminent Hindi writer and Jnanpith Award winner Vinod Kumar Shukla passed away on 23 December 2025 at the age of 89. He was born on January 1, 1937, in Rajnandgaon, in present-day Chhattisgarh.

♦ His most well-known novel, Naukar Ki Kameez, earned wide recognition and was later adapted into a film by filmmaker Mani Kaul. Another notable work, Deewar Mein Ek Khidki Rehti Thi, further established his reputation as a writer of quiet depth and philosophical insight.

♦ In 2023, he was awarded the Jnanpith Award, India’s highest literary honour, a recognition widely viewed as long overdue.