Imphal Book Fair 2011 begins
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, December 24 2011:
The 20th Imphal Book Fair-2011 organised by the State Central Library in association with National Book Trust, New Delhi and Raja Ram Mohan Roy Library Foundation, Kolkata kicked off today at Hapta Kangjeibung, Imphal.
Agriculture Minister Ph Parijat graced the inaugural function of the nine-day book fair as Chief Guest.
Speaking on the occasion, Parijat said that the objective of organising a book fair is not only to sell books but also to create awareness about the value of books.
Books are the endless knowledge banks for a human being.
Organising such book fairs will give a platform for the writers and publishers.
Even though there are many writers, Manipur still needs writers who pen in the areas of Socio-Economics and Politics.
Education acts like a bridge in communication and books provide knowledge which instills the sense of oneness in the human minds resulting in peaceful coexistence, he said.
He also expressed his wish to continue the books fair for a month in order to provide the people of the state maximum opportunities to get the books what they want and appealed to the people of the state to visit the books fair and take maximum advantage of the fair.
Commissioner, Arts and Culture, RK Nimai also appealed to the people of the state to visit the books fair and buy books while expressing fear that the book firms from outside the state might lose their interest if they could not sell their books in the book fair.
Project Coordinator of National Book Trust (NBT), New Delhi Dr Deepanker Gupta and Padmashree RK Jhaljit also attended the inaugural function as presidium members.
Altogether 78 book firms including 47 from outside Manipur are participating in the book fair in 105 stalls.
Among the 47 book firms, four firms from Guwahati, eight from Delhi, five from Kolkata and one from Silchar are paricipating in the fair.
The fair will be open to visitors from 9.30 am to 7 pm daily.