Addressing the opening ceremony of the four-day book fair at the Shaheed Major Harminder Pal Singh Government College, Mohali by the Department of Languages, Punjab, Minister for Higher Education and Languages, Harjot Singh Bains said that Under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, a special campaign has been launched to promote the mother tongue by imbibing book culture among new generation of the state.
These book fairs would prove instrumental for sensitising them about their mother tongue as well as rich heritage of Punjabi culture and literature. He said that in order to promote the mother tongue, the campaign to put the sign boards of business/trade of every government and non-government organization in Punjabi has received a lot of impetus in the state. Now, the next move is to make the Punjabi mother tongue first language on the sign boards outside the shops located in all the markets of the state, which will be intensified in the coming days.
Minister Bains said that he is personally associated with Punjabi literature and has a large number of books in his personal library at home. He said that he came close to Punjabi literature by reading the books of novelist Nanak Singh and other Punjabi literary figures. Today, he can proudly say that Punjabi literature has played an important role in keeping him close to his mother tongue.
He said that reading a foreign language has become a 'status symbol' in our society. In this guise, mother tongues are being neglected. He said that the mother tongue is the best and most comfortable medium to acquire knowledge and express one's feelings. For which we should connect our new generation with the mother tongue as much as possible.
He said that the mother tongue has the biggest contribution in building our personality.Terming this four-day book fair the biggest gift for Punjabi lovers in cities like Mohali and Chandigarh, he said that today when he saw Rasul Hamzatov's translated Punjabi book Mera 'Mera Dagistan' at this book fair, he immediately bought this popular book for his personal library.
He said that our mother tongue is our pride and we should not feel ashamed or inferiority complex in speaking it. He said that for the first time, action was taken against private schools that banned speaking mother tongue, under which a private school in Mohali was fined.
On this occasion, he also bought Rani Tatt and Sahitya Sanjeevani books for his library. Minister Harjot Singh Bains also released two books 'Computer for children' and 'Paed'. A four-day book fair organized by the Department of Languages, Punjab in coordination with District Language Office, S.A.S. Nagar, will exhibit and hold various other literary activities too by November 23. Kuljit Singh Randhawa MLA Derabassi and District Planning Board S.A.S. Nagar Chairperson Prabhjot Kaur also attended as a special guest.
On this occasion, SDM Mohali Chandrajyoti Singh, Principal Harjit Kaur Gujral, Tehsildar Kuldeep Singh, eminent writers Dr. Joga Singh, Dr. Bhiminder Singh, Manmohan Singh Daun, C.P. Kamboj, Dr. Sarabjit Singh, Satnam Singh Deputy Director, Research Officer Darshan Kaur along with a large number of literati were present. On this occasion, an exhibition of calligraphy was also organized by Urmandeep Singh. The program was moderated by Tejinder Kaur, District Language Officer, Mansa.