Padma Bhushan awarded by the President of India
Padma Shri awarded by the President of India
Iqbal Centenary Gold Medal awarded by the President of Pakistan
D.Litt. Degree (Honoris Causa) by the Central University of Hyderabad
Indira Gandhi Memorial Fellowship, Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts
Mazzini Gold Medal by the Government of Italy
Sahir Ludhianvi Award by the Sahir Cultural Academy
Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship for Residency at Bellagio Study Centre, Italy
Twice Visiting Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis , U.S.A.
Acting Vice Chancellor, Jamia Millia University
Visiting Professor at the University of Oslo, Norway
Member Trust, National Book Trust, India
Rajiv Gandhi Award for Excellence in Secularism, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (Kanpur Chapter)
Sahitya Akademi Award for work on literary theory and Indian poetics
Ghalib Award for life time achievement, Ghalib Institute
Urdu-Hindi Sahitya Committee Award, Lucknow
Amir Khusrau Award (AKSA-Chicago)
Canadian Academy of Urdu Language and Literature Award, Toronto
Ghalib Prize for the best scholarly book, Urdu Masnawiyan
Khwaja Ashkar Husain Award, Toronto
Mir Award by the Mir Academy, Lucknow
National Award on Puranon ki Kahaniyangiven by the National Council of Educational Research and Training, New Delhi
Association of Asian Studies, Mid-Atlantic Region, U.S.A. Award for the promotion of Urdu Language and Literature and its education in U.S.A.
Bapu Reddy Jaatheeya Sahiti Puraskaram
Zainabia Trust Award
Delivered lectures on different aspects of Indian literature and culture at the Universities of Chicago, California-Berkeley, Columbia-New York, McGill-Montreal, Michigan-Ann Arbor, Washington, Misso, London, Toronto, Oslo, Prague and Moscow
Author of more than 200 scholarly articles published in Indian and foreign journals of U.K., U.S.A., Norway and Czechoslovakia
Fellow, Royal Asiatic Society, London, U.K.
Member, Linguistic Panel & Linguistic Terminology Committee of the Taraqqi Urdu Board, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India
Participated in the 27th International Orientalists Congress held at Michigan University as delegate of the Government of India
Recipient of Commonwealth Fellowshipfor research in U.K.
Recipient of Ford Foundation Grant for Linguistic Institute, Indiana University
Prepared Anthology of Urdu Short Stories for UNESCO; being published by Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi
Published Readings in Literary Urdu Prose from the University of Wisconsin Press; text being used at many Universities in U.K., U.S.A., Germany, Norway, Japan and Turkey as teaching material
Services to Language and Literature acknowledged in the Dictionary of International Biography, Cambridge, U.K.
Prepared a book on Indian Mythology for the National Book Trust of India
Served as Expert Member and Visitor's Nominee on many University Selection Committees for Professors, Readers, and Lecturers, also served as Expert Member on University Grants Commission Special Committees.
Contributed a substantial section on Modern Urdu Literature in Hindi Sahitya ka Brihat Itihas, (Nagari Pracharni Sabha, (Vol.9, pp. 216-282)
Contributed papers and participated in many Indian and International Seminars, Conferences, and Workshops on language and literature
Member, Executive Board, Sahitya Akademi, National Academy of Letters
Member, Programme Advisory Committee, Delhi Television (three terms)
Visited Oslo in August 1981 at the invitation of the Government of Norway and addressed the Writers Union and various literary and cultural organisations.
Participated in the 10th World Congress of Sociology held in Mexico City in August 1982, and presented a paper on Urdu Orthography.
Visited U.S.A., Canada, and U.K. in 1982, 1986, 1992 & 2001 and gave lectures at the Universities of California, Arizona, Wisconsin, Chicago, Minnesota, Cornell, Philadelphia, Toronto and London.
Visited U.S.S.R. on the invitation of the Soviet Union to participate in the International Forum on Nuclear Disarmament and Peace in Moscow, and also visited Central Asia, and delivered lectures in Tashkent, Bukhara, and Samarkent, 1986.
Visted Saudi Arabia and participated in the Urdu Conference, Jeddah; also visited Riyadh
Member, Advisory Panel, National Book Trust of India
Member, Governing Body, Laxmi Bai College, Delhi University
Delegate at the Asian Literary Perspectives Conference, Washington D.C.
Khalsa Tri-Centenary Award
Member, Language Advisory Committee, NCERT
Vice-Chairman, National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language
Vice-Chairman, Delhi Urdu Academy
Member, Advisory Board, T.V. Urdu Channel, Doordarshan
Member, Advisory Committee on Culture, Government of India
Member, Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), Government of India