Gujarat Government has decided to celebrate the Jnanapith award winner poet-scholar-writer Umashankar Joshi’s birth centenary through yearlong programmes on a grand scale, the State Cabinet with Chief Minister Narendra Modi in chair decided here today.

The state-level Umashankar Joshi Centenary Celebration Committee, being constituted to host variety of programmes befitting a leading litterateur’s centenary, is headed by Senior Minister Vajubhai Vala.

Umashankar Joshi was born at Bamna village in Idar taluka in north Gujarat on July 21, 1911. He was at his creative best in his epic ‘Vishwashanti’, influenced by Mahatma Gandhi.