– Ronita Torcato 

On October 15, several educational institutions across Maharashtra hosted Reading Inspiration Day to mark the birth anniversary of former President, scientist and Bharat Ratna Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

The Maharashtra State Literature and Culture Board organised a programme spotlighting Marathi authors and researchers. The Board has published 688 books thus far, according to Dr. Meenakshi Patil, secretary of the Board, which focused on Tarkatirtha Lakshmanasastri Joshi’s Samagra Vangmayya.

Chairing the meeting, Dr. Sadanand More, president of the Board lauded Dr. Sunilkumar Lavate for compiling the vast body of Joshi’s work into 18 volumes in just four years. Dr Ashok Chausalkar commended the Board of Literature and Culture and the Government Press for publishing the same.

For readers to have access to quality literature, it is necessary to create such literature and take it to the readers, asserted Dr More. The Sahitya and Sanskriti Mandal is committed to this and quality literature is being published even when the Board has very little manpower, he said.

Dr. Lavate expressed the hope that rare documents pertaining to the Marathi Encyclopaedia and works like Dr.Rajaram Shastri Bhagwat and Acharya Javadekar’s Samajra Vangam would be published as well.

In various schools, students and teachers lauded the contribution of Dr. Abdul Kalam to India’s progress and his love of reading. At St Mary’s SSC School, Mazgaon, little boys carried their favorite story book to read in class, dressed up as a favorite character and narrated the story. 

Teachers also enacted a story for the children to shed light on the importance of reading.

Not only in Maharashtra, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s birth anniversary celebrations were also held at Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi where officials Rupinder Singh, Niva Jain, Dr. Rajesh Pawar, and Smita Shelar paid rich tributes to the late President who emphasised the transformative power of education and the immense potential of India’s youth, and was quoted as having said, “Books are my favourite friends, and I consider my home library, with many thousands of books, to be my greatest wealth. Every new book, based on some new idea inspires me and gives me a new thought to ponder.”

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