Srinagar, 02 August: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha participated in the ‘Chiner Book Festival’ organized by the National Book Trust of India in Srinagar today.
The inauguration program was also done by the Union Education Minister, Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan.
In his address, the Lieutenant Governor congratulated the Union Ministry of Education and the National Book Trust to keep the readers monitoring new ideas and attitudes and to provide an opportunity to interact with eminent writers and scholars across the country.
“Books open window to the world. Books provide new ideas and new approaches that we change the way we look at and promote important thinking. The Chiner Book Festival will connect the new generation to our precious literary heritage and motivate them to preserve and promote our traditional knowledge left by our ancestors,” he said.
The Lieutenant Governor called upon the authors to think about re -writing history to fix the facts that were distorted in the past.
“The new generation should be made aware that our civilization was financially rich and it was also a global center of literature, science and spirituality.
Ancient India was the engine of world civilization and culture. We gave the world a gift of science, mathematics, medicines and we should be proud of our cultural, literary, scientific and spiritual heritage.
The roots of our knowledge and science have always been immense. We need to free ourselves from the colonial mindset and the new generation should be told that our heritage has been a pioneer in the world and the gift of science that we have given to the whole humanity is incomparable, ”said the Lieutenant Governor.
The Lieutenant Governor highlighted that under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, India is simultaneously witness to economic, cultural and scientific renaissance. He said, to strengthen the spiritual, social and emotional unity of the nation, the unique contribution of writers and thinkers is necessary.
In his address, the Lieutenant Governor insisted on reviving India’s ancient knowledge system and making it a part of mainstream education.
He called upon the National Book Trust to publish and translate the Nilamat Purana, Rajatrangini and Kathasagara in various Indian languages.
He said that these versions in regional language should also be depicted prominently to introduce the world for the unique literary heritage of Jammu and Kashmir at international book celebrations.
The Lieutenant Governor asked the National Book Trust to actively promote famous literature from Kashmiri, Pahari, Gojri, Dogri, Urdu, and Punjabi at the Book Festival and ensured its translation in various languages to reach out to wide audiences.
The event also saw the first national exhibition of ‘Sardaksarni-Sharda Alphabets, and the inauguration of the Kashmiri translation of the book called “Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh-The Age’. The winners of Rashtriya e-Pushkalaya Amrit Kaal Story Writing Competition were also announced.
Pro. Milind Sudhakar Marathe, President, National Book Trust; Shri Vijay Kumar Bidhuri, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir; Pro. Raghuvendra Tanwar, President of India Historical Research (ICHR); Dr. Amit Wanchu, Chief Convenor, Chiner Book Festival; Shri Yuvraj Malik, Director, National Book Trust; Various educational institutions, senior officials, eminent literary personality, book lover, youth and children’s vice chiefs were present.
