The 81 days’ long journey of Ganga Pustak Parikrama was flagged off today in Gangotri. Launched first-time ever, this mobile book exhibition (Pustak Parikrama) by National Book Trust, India (under Ministry of Education, Govt. of India) – covering a journey of 2500 kilometres passing through all major cities, towns and settlements along river Ganga – will connect with about 1.5 lakh children and young adults among others and make them aware about the cultural and environmental aspects of Ganga on our lives through creative writing, readings, paintings, orkshops, discussions and other such books-and-reading-related activities, etc. The sacred waters of Ganga have inspired sages, philosophers, writers and artists who have immortalized its divine image in the collective mentality of crores of people. This mobile book exhibition will revisit the famous literary writings on Ganga through recitation and discussion of classics. It will also connect the literary heritage of writers who lived around the river Ganga. This includes writings of Kalidas, Tulsidas, Premchand, Rabindranath Tagore, Harivansh Rai Bachchan to contemporary authors like Amish Tripathi. It will also covers contemporary writings as well as research works on Ganga to create a public discourse around it. The National Mission on Clean Ganga has also shown interest in joining hands for this book exhibition for its Jan Ganga and Gyan Ganga Programmes. NBT-India will also invite creative writings on the Gangetic wildlife and develop the same in the form of books for children.
The Mobile Book Exhibition will pass through Rishikesh, Haridwar, Bijnor, Meerut, Aligarh, Farrukhabad, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Mirzapur, Varanasi, Chhapra, Patna, Begusarai, Sultanganj, Bhagalpur, Sahibganj, Baharampur, Kolkata, and finally end its journey in Haldia on 22nd December 2022. The book exhibition has a focus section of books on Ganga and ecosystems developed around Indian rivers and water bodies, in addition to the age-appropriate books in Hindi, English Sanskrit and Urdu displayed under different categories.
Ganga Pustak Parikrama is open to anyone with a love for books and connect with the literary heritage of the sacred river of Ganga through the world of books.
