Encourage children to read books from early age: Guv Biswabhusan Harichandan

Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan inaugurated the 33rd Vijayawada Book Festival, organised by Vijayawada Book Festival Society in the Government Polytechnic College grounds here on Thursday.

Speaking on the occasion, the Governor said every child must be molded primarily to love his mother tongue, before learning other languages. He said, "I still remember my childhood days, when we were encouraged to read great epics and moral stories from books in mother tongue."

He advised parents to visit the book fair along with their children and encourage them to acquire good books and encourage children to read books from early age as they will be empowered with knowledge as they grow up reading books.

"Since the time I took over as Governor of Andhra Pradesh, I gained a better understanding of the richness of Telugu language," he said. The Governor said it was is matter of pride for the Telugu people that Kavi Samrat Viswanatha Satyanarayana, who hailed from Vijayawada, had won his 'Jnanpith' award, the highest Indian literary award, for his epic novel VEYI PADAGALU and the fact that it was translated into Hindi by none other than Prime Minister late P V Narasimha Rao. He further said 81 million people speaks Telugu all over the world, and it is the fourth most spoken language in India.