Lucknow: Dalit literature is being written even today with the aim of creating a new humane and egalitarian society by keeping the lowest class at the center. The influence of this Dalit literature is clearly visible in the 21st National Book Fair being held in Balrampur Garden. Buddhist and Dalit literature is available in many stalls of the fair.
At the stall of Bahujan Literature, there is a new edition of Jyotiba Phul’s Gulamgiri book published in 1873, while under the Har Ghar Abhiyan, Dr. ML Parihar’s Har Ghar Samvidhan, Har Ghar Gautam Buddha and Har Ghar Ambedkar books are being sold at low prices. Here, along with the book Constitution of India, the book Dhammapada is being given as a gift. From the stall of Gautam Prakashan, book lover Balkrishna Rawat bought What Congress and Gandhi have done for the untouchables and some other books. New books like Mahanayak of Social Revolution, Anmol Vachan of Mahapurush, Bahujan Sahitya Kosh by SS Gautam, Father of Indian Music and Art, Dalit Pichde and Satya Asatya by Shyam Bihari Verma are also attracting the attention of readers at this stall.
Newly published books like Maharaj Bijli Pasi’s History, Jannayak Karpuri Thakur, Bahujan Veeranganas, India’s Ancient Geography, Phoolan Devi, Truth of Caste Census, True History of Emperor Ashoka, Concept of Human Liberation in Hindi Dalit Literature and Twenty-Eight Buddha and His Followers are displayed along with books written on Dr. Ambedkar at the stall of Samyak Prakashan.
Buddhist literature is also available at many other stalls.
On the literary stage of the fair, author Ashutosh Singh released Amit Tiwari’s book Banku and Shweta Upadhyay’s book Kavita Si Ladki and Nibandh Sa Ladka on behalf of Bodhras Prakashan. Saraswat Samman ceremony was held under the chairmanship of Dr. Amita Dubey and Kumar Taral’s management on behalf of Manjusha Parishad. In the ceremony, Prof. Harishankar Mishra was honoured with Dr. Sarla Shukla Smriti Samman and Alka Pramod was honoured with Manas Manjusha Samman.
On this occasion, Dr. Manju Shukla’s book ‘Janme Hain Raghubar Avadh Maa’ was released in the presence of Vijaykumar Tripathi and Apoorva Awasthi. Songs from the collection were also sung. In the same sequence, the joint story collection of writers, Amrit Manthan, published this year by Abhivyakti Sanstha, was released in the presence of writers like Dr. Amita Dubey, Sharda Lal, Jyotsna Singh, Manju Shukla etc. Apart from this, a seminar on the topic of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri, two pioneers of India, was organised by Vasundhara Foundation in collaboration with Rakesh Srivastava and chaired by Padmashree Dr. Vidya Bindu Singh. Akhilesh Srivastava Chaman, Anandvardhan Singh, poet Naresh Saxena, journalist Sudhir Mishra expressed their views in the ceremony. On this occasion, Indian Bank’s Deputy General Manager Shyamshankar awarded the children of the competitions organised by the Foundation in various schools.
On the eve of Gandhi Jayanti, 32 children of Gadhdhar Abhyudaya Project Ramakrishna Math, in collaboration with Sushant from the Publication Department, ran a cleanliness drive in the fair premises and gave the message of cleanliness. Aastha, Mahi, Meenakshi, Shikha, Payal, Moni Mishra and Nitin from MDA Dance Academy, in collaboration with Jyoti Kiran, presented dances on songs like Naino wale ne…. In the evening, speakers expressed their views in a seminar on the topic of entrepreneurship opportunities organized by Vision Care.
