Book Fair 2016 to focus on government initiatives on literacy

The 22nd edition of the Delhi Book Fair this year aims to highlight initiatives undertaken by the central government for its Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan flagship programme to inculcate better reading habits among the younger generation.

The 9-day-long fair organised by Indian Trade Promotion Organisation in association with Federation of Indian Publishers will be held between August 27 and September 4 at Pragati Maidan in Delhi.

“We are trying to create better reading habits among the youth and get them involved in the process through the medium of book reading and story telling sessions, nukkad natak and magic shows. We will also have authors’ corners,” Jayanta Das, General Manager, ITPO, said. National campaigns launched in the past two years will find place in the Theme Pavillion, which will be transformed, into a ‘selfie station’.Initiatives like ‘Make in India’, ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’, ‘Digital India’, ‘Skill India’, ‘Startup India’, ‘Smart Cities’, and ‘Umang’ (Unified mobile app for new-age governance) will dominate the pavillion where visitors will be able to click selfies with cut-outs depicting the respective campaigns.

“One of the major attractions will be the ‘selfie station’ which is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of skill development, start ups, and Swacch Bharat. All these campaigns have been put together and highlighted to create awareness among students,” Mr Das said.

The fair, like all its previous editions will showcase a wide range of fiction and non-fiction, academic books besides plenty of children’s literature and other varieties of publications including digital innovations, in order to promote literacy and higher education among children and the youth.

The organisers will also offer special facilities for students and the teaching community, who will be provided free entry to the fair, provided they are in their uniform. Exhibitors include both Indian and foreign publishers, book sellers and distributors, educational institutions, manufacturers and dealers of teaching aids, periodicals and magazines, and e-books.

To make the fair more interactive for the visitors, ITPO has planned to introduce book reading sessions, band performances, on-the-spot competitions, film screenings, quizzes, street plays, and storytelling sessions.