Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, December 28 2009:
The 18th Imphal Book Fair 2009 began here at Hatta Kanjeibung, Palace compound with the objective of keeping reading habits to all section of the society.
The fair will continue till January 6 next year.
The 10 day long book fair was organised by the state central library under the art and culture department in association with the Raja Rammohon Roy Library Foundation.
The opening function of the fair was graced by P Bhorot, commissioner, art and culture.
Director of art and culture, Kh Sorojini presided over the function while RK Jhaljit, Padmashree attended as guest of honour.
A total of 33 book farms are taking part in the book fairs.
Out of them 10 (six from Guwahati, two from Kolkata and two from Delhi) were from outside the state while the rest are state farms.
Compare to the last year which 17 outside book farms took part, this year only 10 are participating even though state art and culture spend Rs 2.50 lakh in the organisation of the fair.
Customers could get book of their choice at 10 percent discount in the fair.
Despite having good numbers of writer, Manipur lack of readers.
But writers and publishers are publishing books keeping behind the profit or lost of publishing the book, RK Jhaljit speaking as guest of honour of the function said.
That is why Manipuri language is able to include among the 169 languages classified by the education department of the United States of America out of more than 6,000 languages speaking across the globe, he added.
Speaking at the inauguration function of the fair as chief guest, commissioner, P Bhorot said that the fair has been organised in other to spread awareness on the habit of reading books to the people of the state.
He also observed that if every individuals set up own home library, the reading habit can be culture to the people of the state.