Govind Singh Thakur Inaugurates NBT’s Shimla Book Fair
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Shimla, June 25 – National Book Trust, India’s Shimla Book Fair organised in association with Department of Language Art & Culture, Himachal Pradesh was inaugurated on 25 June 2022 by the Hon’ble Education Minster, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh Shri Govind Singh Thakur. Shimla Book Fair is being organised from 25 June to 3 July 2022 at Gaiety Theatre and Padam Dev Complex, Shimla.
While inaugurating the fair, Minster Govind Singh Thakur said that knowledge is the greatest gift that can be given to man, and books are certainly the best means of knowledge. He said that children are the future of us and the country and it is our responsibility that all our children grow up to become global citizens. Appreciating the National Book Trust, India, the Minister said that the organization of such fairs and exhibitions by NBT is a very important step in the direction of promoting the habit of reading books.
Prof. Govind Prasad Sharma, Chairman National Book Trust, India, while felicitating the guests at the opening ceremony said that in the journey of development that started with the independence of the country, National Book Trust, India has been working towards making every section of the society knowledgable and aware and organizing book fairs is an important means for making books accessible to the common readers. He said, book fairs not only make different types of literature accessible but also provide a platform for exchange of culture and social integration.
Yuvraj Malik, Director NBT expressed his gratitude to the Hon’ble Minister for inaugurating the fair. He said that as the Knowledge Partner of the Nation, NBT has been contributing to nation building by providing good quality literature to the readers in over 55 Indian languages across the country. He further advised the visitors to the fair to gift at least one book to a loved one and added that special discounts on books will be provided to school students and school administrations that visit the fair.
Rakesh Kanwar, Secretary, (Language – Culture) encouraged the children to take full advantage of the books displayed at the fair. He said that reading different genres of books along with curriculum books is very essential for personality development.
K.R.Bharti, an eminent writer said that books are the most faithful companion of man. He said that reading is more important than writing books, and the National Book Trust, India is continuously working towards making books available to every reader by organizing fairs and exhibitions across the country.
The fair will see participation from more than 43 reputed publishers from the country across 63 stalls. Apart from Hindi and English, books published by NBT and other noted publishers in Himachali, Punjabi, Urdu and other Indian languages will be available at the fair. Book lovers will have the opportunity to browse through and buy cost-effective quality books across genres for readers of all age groups on subjects such as popular science, popular social science, national biographies, autobiographies, folklore, Indian & world literature, and much more. Every day the book fair will have literary events, cultural evenings as well as workshops and competitions for children.
NBT-India will also be displaying its bilingual titles for children published as per the guidelines of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 along with its new series India@75which acquaints readers with the lives and struggles of our freedom fighters.
The fair will be open to visitors from 11 am to 8 pm every day. Entry to the fair will be free and a special discount of up to 10% on books will be provided. All writers, litterateurs, publishers and book lovers are invited to visit the book fair.
