IMPHAL, Feb 10 - Prof Govind Prasad Sharma, chairman of the National Book Trust (NBT) India, on Monday said he was confident that books will overcome the challenges created by e-books.
�A book is a book. We can feel it. We can touch. This is like a property. But an e-book is not. So books can overcome (e-books),� Govind said during the opening session of the two-week-long training programme in book publishing at the Manipur University campus at Canchipur near here.
A total of 50 participants from diverse fields are attending the training organised by the NBT India in collaboration with Manipur University. The training will conclude on February 22.
NBT, India, an apex body under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, aims to produce and encourage production of good literature in English, Hindi and other Indian languages.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the event, Govind also invited writers from the North East, including Manipur, to submit manuscripts in their respective languages so that the NBT India can publish them. �Writers can directly submit their books or manuscripts, we are ready to publish it,� said the former vice chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education. �Any book relating to the common man can be submitted as our mandate is to promote books among the common man.� So far, NBT India has taken up steps for similar initiatives in Tripura, Mizoram and Assam.
Earlier, inaugurating the training programme, Deputy Chief Minister Yumnam Joykumar expressed the need to translate literature and folktales of Manipur into English or other languages. MU Vice Chancellor Jarnail Singh appealed to writers to use correct facts in books so that readers and others can refer to them for research work.
