Namsai Deputy Commissioner Dr Tapasya Raghav on Wednesday inaugurated the ‘Joy of Reading Festival’ with the theme ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ at the VKV auditorium here.
The inaugural function was also attended by Lower Dibang Valley DC Mitali Namchoom, TERI marketing manager Gitesh Sinha, K Madhavan Kutty, a Malayalam author and Sumi Migri, manager of Ashok Leyland at Guwahati.
The Joy of Reading Festival is being organized by the Lohit Youth Libraries Network in collaboration with the Lower Dibang Valley district administration and the Women and Child Development Department.
Dr Raghav, in his address said that organizing a festival with the theme of ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao‘ is a noble idea and if the work is done in the right spirit, many positive changes may occur.
“Any social change has to come from schools and it is only when students know about social evils and question it, can a change take place,” she said.
A well-read kid grows up to become a thoughtful person. It is through reading stories that one can learn values and morals and become a better person, she said while encouraging the students to develop reading habit.
Echoing her counterpart, DC Namchoom encouraged all to inculcate the habit of reading on daily basis and said, that would enhance one’s knowledge and improve personality.
“We are so busy with our lives and the digital world that we have forgotten the joy and beauty of reading,” she said while encouraging all to take full advantage of the festival.
Sathyanarayana Mundayoor, coordinator of Lohit Youth Library Network, spoke about it being the third year of the Joy of Reading Festival and informed the gathering about the origin of the Youth Library Network and its inception in 1998.
The festival will continue till December 8 with a mobile bus displaying and selling books to students at Koronu, Bolung and Dambuk.