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Delhi

21st edition of Delhi Book Fair begins

<g data-gr-id="46">Seeking to ma</g>ke people aware of the importance of skill development in today’s India, the 21st edition of the Delhi Book Fair began at Pragati Maidan on Saturday.

Based on the theme of ‘Skill Development’, the fair this year aims to offer people an idea about skill development and how it can change the life of the youth.

The fair was inaugurated by Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office.
It has been organised <g data-gr-id="37">jointy</g> by India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) and The Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP) and subsidised entry tickets priced at Rs 20 for the nine-day fair have been made available at several Delhi Metro stations for the convenience of the public.

At the inauguration, Singh stressed that the challenge was to create a passion for books among the public.

“Better than employment is employability. Therefore, better than facilitating people’s arrival to the fair, we need to inspire some passion in them.... It is a huge challenge to create a passion which would not require facilitation,” he said.

While <g data-gr-id="36">Internet</g> is seen as a threat to the tradition of reading books, the optimistic minister suggested the need for encouraging a harmonious co-existence of the two.

“I don’t think that (Internet) should be taken as a challenge. It should be taken as a supplement. A lot of things have become easier. If you cannot find a publisher, you can publish it on the Internet. It automatically gets readership across the world,” he said, adding that a book, however, will always have a longer shelf life as compared to its electronic counterpart. 

Addressing a query by Ashok Gupta, President of FIP, regarding any possibility of books becoming taxable with the passage of the GST Bill, Singh said, “We can make a submission in front of the Finance Minister” to urge him against any such move.

The fair is featuring titles and publications by over 215 participants, including overseas participation from China.

Publications spanning across school and college textbooks, children’s literature and fiction and non-fiction are among the huge collection on offer for the public at the fair along with office and computer stationery, digital writing instruments, labels, printers, labelling machines, money checkers, material for seminars, conferences, office automation and corporate gifts.
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