Delhi Book Fair 2016 to focus on govt initiatives on 'Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan'

The 22^nd edition of the Delhi Book Fair this year aims to highlight initiatives undertaken by the central government for its ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan’ flagship programme to inculcate better reading habits among the younger generation. The 9-day-long fair organised by Indian Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) in association with Federation of Indian Publishers is scheduled to be held between August 27 to September 4 at Pragati Maidan. 

“We are trying to create better reading habits among the youth and get them involved in the process through the medium of book reading and story telling sessions, nukkad natak and magic shows. We will also have authors’ corners,” Jayanta Das, General Manager, ITPO said.

National campaigns launched in the past two years will find place in the Theme Pavillion which will be transformed into a selfie station. 

Initiatives like ‘Make in India’, ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’, ‘Digital India’, ‘Skill India’, ‘Startup India’, ‘Smart Cities’, ‘Startup India’, and ‘Umang’ (Unified mobile app for New-age Governance), will dominate the pavillion where visitors will be able to click selfies with cut-outs depicting the respective campaigns. 

“One of the major attractions will also be ‘selfie station’ which is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visions of skill development, startups, swacch bharat etc.  All these campaigns have been put together and highlighted to create awareness among students,” Das said. 

The fair, like all its previous editions will showcase a wide range of fictions and non-fictions, academic books besides plenty of children’s literature and other varieties of publications including digital innovations, in order to promote literacy and higher education among children and the youth. 

The organisers have also decided to offer special facilities for students and the teaching community, who will be provided free entry to the fair, provided they are in their uniforms, Das said. 

Exhibitors include both Indian and foreign publishers, book sellers and distributors, educational institutions, manufacturers and dealers of teaching aids, periodicals and magazines and e-books.

To make the fair more interactive for the visitors, ITPO has planned to introduce book reading sessions, band performances, on-the spot competitions, film screenings, quizzes, street plays and storytelling sessions. 

For the convenience of the visitors, new mobile applications detailing the locations of the exhibitors and ancillary activities will be made available to facilitate easy access at the fair.  The fair will also provide a unique platform for business transactions, establishing new contacts, entering into co-publishing arrangements, translation and copy right arrangements, reprinting of old and rare books, apart from providing retailing opportunities as a multitude of visitors come to the fair.

A number of conferences and seminars, buyer-seller meets, book releases, book discussions, literary activities for children and meet-the-author sessions will also be held.  Literary encouragement sessions have also been scheduled as part of Corporate Social Responsibility. 

ITPO’s Stationary Fair, Office Automation Fair and Corporate Gift Fair will run parallel to the fair and is expected to see participation by as many as 250 companies. 

Visitors can pick up a wide variety of products from these complementary events as well including drawing boards, clip, bed tables and board easels, teaching aids, note books, handmade papers, computer stationary, photo frame album etc.