the "premchand fellowship" is instituted in 2005 and is named after hindi writer premchand, who is popularly known as "munshi premchand", during his 125th birth anniversary. it is given to "a person of eminence in the field of culture and literature" doing research on indian literature or to creative writers from the south asian association for regional cooperation (saarc) countries other than india. the first and sole recipient of the fellowship is a pakistani national and urdu writer intizar hussain. the period of fellowship for "ananda coomaraswamy fellowship" and "premchand fellowship" ranges from one month to three months depending on the convenience and availability of the recipient. the visiting fellow needs to submit a comprehensive report of their visit which is to be placed before the executive board and are requested to deliver lectures on the topic of their specialization in universities and institutions dealing in the discipline.