Guwahati: Assam Book Fair (Asom Granthamela) is concluding on Sunday with significant support from the bookworms as the 12-day event witnessed sale of publications worth nearly rupees five crore till Saturday. Amidst the threat of spreading novel coronavirus, the book fair organisers followed necessary precautions since the first day.
Organised by Asom Prakashan Parishad (the State government run Publication Board Assam) and All Assam Publishers & Book Sellers Association deserve appreciation at Assam Engineering Institute playground in Chandmari locality of the city, the fair is participated by nearly 150 book-publishing groups comprising a few from Bangladesh too.
Inaugurating the book fair on 29 December 2021, State education minister Dr Ranoj Pegu emphasized on developing a culture of book reading and he also insisted on translating various literary works in Assamese to different larger languages and also translating ethnic language creations of the region into Assamese.
Chairman of Prakashan Parishad, expressed happiness that more people are now reading books as they wanted to get rid of loneliness created by the nationwide corona-lockdown. The minister also honoured Dr Nandita Devi with Prakashan Parishad literary award for her novel ‘Bongol Bohu Door’ along with its publisher Nagen Sarma of Jyoti Prakashan.
Asom Sahitya Sabha president Dr Kuladhar Saikia, while gracing the inaugural function, stressed on popularising the books among young people with varied contents. He argued that new technology should be used for making books available to them. Dr Noni Gopal Mahanta, adviser to the State education department, revealed that even after invasion of the internet, the books remain popular around the world.
It may be mentioned that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the publishers & book-sellers could not organise Northeast Book Fair last year and it even failed to accommodate the annual event because of anti-CAA (citizenship amendment act) movements in 2019 too. However, Prakashan Parishad successfully held Guwahati Granthamela in 2020 with significant public support.
This time, organisers of both the events have joined hands to pave the way for Asom Granthamela, where State chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had taken a positive initiative for the combined effort. Next year, both the events may take place separately if the corona-situation improves significantly, informed Prakashan Parishad secretary Pramod Kalita.
“Let’s remember contributions of the great souls including author-journalist Chandra Prasad Saikia who were instrumental in organizing the first book fair in the region. Prakashan Parishad joined hands with National Book Trust of India to launch the book fair movement and it was a huge success. Later Prakashan Parishad took enough challenges to organise the book fair without any collaboration to any institution in 1987,” said journalist Rupam Barua, who has been observing the book fair movement since the initial days.
In the beginning years, the regular venue of Guwahati Granthamela was the Judges field which was often overcrowded by the book enthusiasts. Soon a large number of publishers and booksellers from various parts of the country started participating in the book fair and lately the venue was shifted to the present location to accommodate more participants.
“With the availability of cheaper mobile internet services across the country there were apprehensions that the young people might turn away from the practice of reading. But till now it has been proved wrong. Various extreme audio-visuals, made easily available through the internet, can attract a huge number of people, but they finally get solace in serious reading only,” said Dhiraj Goswami of Assam publishers & book-sellers association.
Assam Book Fair concluding on Sunday
