 It was bestowed by a jury upon seven recipients between its establishment in 2000 and its cessation in 2009.The award was given annually from 2000 to 2004, after which it was given biennially, with one award being given for 2005-2006, and one being given for 2007-2008.The award was instituted by the Samvad India Foundation, a nonprofit charitable trust named for the Sanskrit word for dialogue, which was co-founded by Makarand Paranjape, a professor of English at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi and Vijay Mishra, a professor of English and Comparative Literature at Murdoch University in Perth.