The district Balrampur has very rich literary heritage. Famous Urdu poet Ali Sardar Jafri was born here

in the year 1913. He is among the only four urdu poets who got the prestigious Jnanpith award (other 

three are Firak Gorakhpuri, Kurtulain Hyder and Shaharyar). Apart from that the birthplace of Mohd

Shafi Khan also known as Bekal Utsahi is Balrampur. He has the distinction of being a former member

of Rajya Sabha . In the year 1976 he got Padmashree Award in the field of literature. During a visit to

the Mazar of Hazrat Vaaris Ali Shah of Devan-Sharif in 1945 Shah Hafiz Pyari Miyan quoted, "Bedam

Gaya Bekal aaya". After that incident Mohammad Shafi Khan converted his name as "Bekal

Varsi".During the period of Pandit Nehru in 1952 an interesting event happened, which resulted in to

the emergence of Bekal Utsahi. There was a election programme of congress party in Gonda at that

time. Bekal Varsi welcomed Pandit Nehru by his poetry "Kisan Bharat Ka". Nehru was very much

impressed and said,"Yeh hamara utsahi shayar hai".Finally he is renowned as Bekal Utsahi in the

literary world.