Abhai Maurya - Prof. Abhai Maurya is the founder Vice-Chancellor of the central University of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad. A holder of degree No. 01' of the now prestigious JNU, Prof. Maurya did his Ph.D. in Russian Literature from Moscow State University. He joined University of Delhi in February 1974 as a Lecturer. In 1978 he became a Reader and in 1988 a Professor of Russian Literature. Prof. Maurya had been the Head of Department of Modern European Languages and in 1988 he became the founder Head of Department of Slavic Studies. He had been the Dean, Faculty of Applied. Social Sciences and Humanities twice and the Chairman of the Board of Research Studies (Humanities and Social Sciences) twice. He had been the Provost of Jubilee Hall and P. G. Men's Hostel and the Chairman, Sports Council, University of Delhi. Prof. Maurya is the author of 13 books, both scholarly and creative, and more than 50 research papers published in India and abroad. Among the books, Confluence-Historico-Literary Comparative Studies (1988), India and World Literature (ed., 1990), Russian English-Hindi Dictionary (2007), the text-book titled Essential Russian (2009) won him wide acclaim. Prof. Maurya was awarded the "A. S. Pushkin" Medal, the highest honour in the field of Russian literature and language, by International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature (UNESCO status) in 1986. Prof. Maurya's novels Fall of a Here (in English, 1998), Yugnayika (in Hindi, 2004), Mukti-path (2006) and Trasadi (2011) have won a wide critical acclaim. Prof. Maurya was awarded 'Haryana Gaurav Samman' by Haryana Sahitya Academi, 2009 for the year 2007-2008 and 'Safdar Hashmi Samman' in 2009 for the year 2006 by Ramnika Gupta Foundation. Prof. Maurya has been a Member, Presidium, International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature (MAPRYAL, UNESCO status); Member, Folklore Fellows, Finnish Academy Science and Letters, Helsinki, Finland; Member, Executive Committee, International Association of Slavists; he had been Assistant General Secretary, International Federation of World Languages and Literatures (FILLM, UNESCO Status) from 2002 to 2008 and in 2008 he became its Vice President.