Curtain down on Book Fair; response over whelming

Hyderabad: For 11 days the 35th Hyderabad National Book fair attracted a huge crowd, compared to three last years. More than 10 lakh people visited the fair, which downed its curtains on Sunday.

Former Governor of Maharashtra Ch Vidyasagar Rao and vice- chairman of State Planning Board B Vinod Kumar were the chief guests at the closing ceremony. According to the organisers, Kala Bharathi, this year the footfall increased by 30- 40 percent than in the previous years. In the11 days more than 25 books, including 10 on poetry, were released. Also, cultural programmes were organised by students of different schools.

Addressing the gathering, Rao said India has always been the home of atheistic and atheistic arguments.

BRS govt working to change syllabus

Kumar stated that the BRS government was working to change the syllabus by taking 100 schools as a pilot project. "We are going to include moral stories, environment, personality formation and society as the curriculum".

J Gourishankar, president of Book Fair Society, observed that books unite people even if there are different arguments. It is said that by reading books, wisdom grows in people. "A person who has studied books can understand feelings of others and continuous studying of books and literature discussions can expand human intelligence. The number of young readers has increased tremendously compared to the previous years".