The Vice President, M. Venkaiah Naidu has called for inculcating the habit of reading from a young age as books are our intellectual and cultural capital. They are an important part of our intangible heritage, he said.Naidu said that books are informative, illuminative and inspiring and they are our best companions, counselors and change agents. We need more good books to enrich our lives and we should be a nation that reads, he added.The Vice President said that for the society to benefit from book reading, there is a need to have one library per village. As a matter of fact one library per village and one toilet per home should become a people’s movement, he said.Inaugurating the 32nd Hyderabad National Book Fair 2018, in Hyderabad today, the Vice President said that the culture of reading books should be promoted in a big way. We should start with children, he added.Naidu expressed the hope that the Library Movement would get further push in Telangana as Chief Minister, Shri K. Chandrasekhar Rao is a Telugu scholar and booklover. He also expressed confidence that the Chief Minister would take appropriate measures to improve libraries.Naidu said that our culture accorded a divine status to letter - a status equivalent to the God. The knowledge acquired through books will lead to development and help in improving standards of living, he said. Words have the power to change the world. Books could change the outlook, he added.The Vice President said that Book Fairs like these will help us to acquire more knowledge through new books and new writers. He further said that Book Fairs should be conducted in every district to promote reading habit as books open a window to a new world.
The demographic dividend we want to achieve cannot be achieved if we don’t improve our literacy rate and the number of good readers, Naidu emphasized.The Vice President said that printing of books never lost its relevance even after the advent of online digital platforms. Even though the number of publishers has been increasing, there is a need to promote quality books in terms of content, he added.Shri Naidu said that the book industry has been receiving good returns since the conduct of first book exhibition in 1966 by the National Book Trust in Mumbai. He said the Hyderabad National Book Fair was the second largest in the country after Kolkata and the Telangana government should come forward to buy books and promote Hyderabad Book Fair so that it takes the top spot.The Vice President pointed out that knowledge and science have given more freedom than the wars in history and reminded that the Library Movement has enabled linguistic and cultural development in Telangana. Expressing his concern over the declining habit of reading books, he said that every school should house a library with books on the lives of great people, history and culture.Shri Naidu said that by encouraging book reading among children we can enhance knowledge and enable them to lead an enlightened life. We need to love books, read books, and also present good books in various programs as suggested by the Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi, he added.The President of Hyderabad Book Fair, Shri Juluru Gowri Shankar, the Secretary of Hyderabad Book Fair, Shri K. Chandra Mohan and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.