A CORRESPONDENT
GOALPARA: The Goalpara Book Fair at Goalpara College playground was formally inaugurated on Wednesday by Dr Ramesh Ch Deka, Vice-Chancellor of Cotton University, Guwahati. Dr Subhash Barman, Principal of Goalpara College gave the welcome speech.
The inauguration programme was jointly organized by the Goalpara district administration and Goalpara College in cooperation with the Goalpara Xahitya Xabha.
Opening the book fair, Dr Ramesh Ch Deka said, "We should work upon ideas to draw the interest of the students into reading books." He further opined that instead of reading 'Facebook,' the students should get involved in reading actual books. "It is unfortunate to notice that a book shop has a smaller queue than a wine shop," lamented Dr Deka.
On the other hand, Dr Dhanapati Deka, V-C of Bhattadev University, lavished praise upon the organizers for arranging consecutive book fairs and remarked that the book fair was a meeting place of the reader, writer, and seller creating a great coordination.
Highlighting the needs of rich literature, he said, "A nation with a weak literature has a weak identity in the world."
The V-C also emphasized upon translating Assamese literature in different foreign languages to let the world know about the literature which has a history of five thousand years.
Meanwhile, Rajiv Talukdar, an executive engineer by profession, attending the occasion as an invited guest, remarked, "To recover from modern-day depression, the 'GenZ' or 'Z' generation should shift to reading books and take guidance for life."
Besides DC Pradip Timung, several other dignitaries like principals of local colleges also attended the programme. The book fair, where several publishers and sellers from Assam and West Bengal are participating, will continue till November 10.
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