GUWAHATI, Dec 26 � The 13th North East Book Fair held at the Assam Engineering Institute ground concluded on a happy note for book-lovers, eliciting wide participation of the public and registering a sale of books worth Rs 4 crore.
The fair that began on December 14 saw an impressive footfall of three lakh visitors, reinforcing the belief that books could hold their own amidst the spurt in a plethora of entertainment forms, especially in the electronic format.
Speaking at the concluding function of the book fair organized by the All Assam Publishers and Book Sellers Association, Justice Biplab Sharma, Judge of Gauhati High Court, said that books were the ideal medium to give a practical shape to the enduring Indian philosophy that the entire world was a single family.
Justice Sharma also stressed the need for promoting the mother tongue even while embracing the best of global literature. He urged the parents to inculcate in every child a sense of love for his or her mother tongue, as the identity of a race was best reflected through its own literature and culture.
A number of distinguished citizens including Dr Satyendra Narayan Goswami, Giripada Deva Choudhury, Rani Gohain, Bimal Hazarika and Suryakanta Hazarika, among others, attended the concluding function that was presided over by Ajit Kumar Barman, president of the association.
A cultural function followed next, enthralling the audience.
