Punjabi Lekhak Sabha, Jammu and J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages jointly organized 2-Day All India Punjabi Writers Conference at Abhinav Theatre, Jammu. This 2-Day Conference was inaugurated by Kavinder Gupta, Speaker J&K Legislative Assembly who was the Chief Guest on the occasion. Dr. Amarjeet Garewal, prominent Punjabi scholar, writer and intellectual presided. Besides this, Dr. Arvinder Singh Amn, Additional Secretary, J&K Cultural Academy, Dr Baljit Raina and S Devinder Singh Vishavnagrik were also present in the presidium. Kavinder Gupta while expressing his view points appreciated for the initiative in arranging 2-Day All India Punjabi Writers’ Conference with an aim to meet out the challenges being faced by all the regional languages in general and by the Punjabi language in particular . He expressed his satisfaction that the learned minds gathered here will definitely deliberate upon the issue in details in this 2-Day Conference and shall come up with a positive roadmap .He also announced an amount of Rs. 5:00 Lac for the Punjabi Bhawan under construction at Rani talab, Digiana, Jammu.
Delivering his presidential address, Dr. Amarjeet Garewal, expressed his gratitude to the J&K Academy and Punjabi Sahitya Sabha for providing him an opportunity to be a part of this meaningful event. While speaking about the importance of Punjabi language as Mother Tongue he said that the language should be spoken in our daily life and the writers can play an important role for its development and preservation. He also spoke about the e-world readership and the future world of globalization and said that it is the time to rethink and rediscover our approach while dealing with the society of present era.
Earlier, welcoming the august gathering, Dr. Arvinder Singh Amn expressed his concern that in this age of globalization everything has changed including the life-style of a person which has adverse affect on the new generation which is considered to be the guardian of the respective culture. He emphasized that it becomes the duty of the guardians, litterateurs and other responsible persons of the society to encourage their wards towards their mother-tongue which will prove beneficial in maintaining the values of rich culture which otherwise is facing threats.Vishavnagrik, President Punjabi Sahitya Sabha also spoke on the occasion and highlighted the aims and objectives of the Sabha and also presented an account of initiatives taken by the Sabha for the promotion of Punjabi language from the period of its inception. Dr Baljit Raina presented Key Note address. The 2nd session started with the reading out of Short Stories . Those who read out their Short Stories were Surinder Noor, Prof. Rattan Singh Kanwal, Jas Pal Maan Khera from Punjab, Hardeep Singh Deep and Gurpreet Chahal, Khalid Hussain, Sh. S.S.Anand Lehar, S. Ajeet Pal Singh Mastana and S. Swaranjeet Singh Savi were in the presidium .The III session was of Paper reading and in the session those who presented their papers were Vickramjit on the topic “ Riasti Punjabi Rangmanch te Mehlawan Da Yogdan” and Dr. Mamta Rani on the subject “Jammu Kashmir Dian Punjabi Filma Te Tele Serial”. S. Kanwal Kashmiri , Pritpal Chahal , Deedar Singh were in the presidium In the fourth session a Punjabi play entitled “Suraj Chhipan Tun Pehlan” written by Devinder Dhaman and Directed by Sandeep Galib was presented by Pragtisheel Naat Manch , Amritsar. Dr. Baljit Singh Raina presented a key note address written by C.P Camboz Head of Department of Compute who could not participate in the event due to the demise of his close relative. The proceedings of the programme were conducted by Surinder Neer whereas vote of thanks was presented by Devinder Singh Vishavnagrik, President Punjabi Lekhak Sabha.Among others were present include: S Rangil Singh, Khalid Hussain, Prof Lalit Mangotra, Prof Nirmal Vinod, S Tarlochan Singh Wazir, S Joginder Singh Raina, Virinder jit Singh and galaxy of learned minds, intellectuals, litterateurs of different languages.