Seeking to make people aware of the importance of skill development in today’s India, the 21st edition of the Delhi Book Fair began at Pragati Maidan on Saturday. Based on the theme of ‘Skill Development’, the event this year aims to offer people an idea about skill development and how it can change the life of the youth. The fair was inaugurated by Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (MoS) in the Prime Minister’s Office.
It has been jointly organised by India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) and The Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP). Subsidised entry tickets priced RsRs 20 for the nine-day fair have been made available at several Delhi Metro Stations for convenience of public. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also visited the Book Fair on Saturday afternoon.
At the inauguration, MoS Singh stressed that the challenge was to create a passion for books among the public. “Better than employment is employability. Therefore, better than facilitating people’s arrival to the fair, we need to inspire some passion in them... It is a huge challenge to create a passion which would not require facilitation,” he said.
While Internet is seen as a threat to the tradition of reading books, the optimistic Minister suggested the need for encouraging a harmonious co-existence of the two. “I don’t think that (Internet) should be taken as a challenge. It should be taken as a supplement. A lot of things have become easier. If you cannot find a publisher, you can publish it on the Internet. It automatically gets readership across the world,” he said, adding that a book, however, will always have a longer shelf life as compared to its electronic counterpart.
Addressing a query by Ashok Gupta, president of FIP, regarding any possibility of books becoming taxable with the passage of the GST Bill, Singh said, “We can make a submission in front of the Finance Minister to urge him against any such move.” The fair is featuring titles and publications by over 215 participants, including overseas participation from China.