patna cultural fair
संस्मरण: National Educational-Cultural Festival
REMEMBRANCE: PATNA BOOK 📚 FAIR 1992
[Friday 13 November to Wednesday 25 November]
PATNA BOOK FAIR : IN RETROSPECT
The feeling that Patna needed a break from the routine life had been felt by those living in Bihar for a long time.
Regrets about Patna’s falling academic image on the national scene, the lowering standards of its colleges and universities and the drying up of intellectual activities were also being voiced. And by 1988, these regrets had brought together some persons in the book 📚 trade who resolved not to sit by and watch things get from bad to worse and this resolve, supported by the stamina and that it needs to put up something as vast as a book 📚 fair needed enthusiasm and a quiet confidence. These, plus a faith in what Bihar stood for, what its past glories signified. All these attributes were contained in some young men behind the very concept of the Patna Book 📚 Fair.
The man who initiated the idea as back as in 1985 at a convention of the Bihar Rajya Pustak Vyvasayi Sangh (बिहार
राज्य पुस्तक व्यवसायी संघ) held in Patna was Mr N.K. Jha [Managing Director, M/s Novelty & Co., Tarabhawan, Ashoka Rajpath, Patna – 800 004], General Secretary of the Sangh and some others in the trade who undertook to shoulder the consequent burdens.
Mr H L. Gulati [Branch Manager of UBS Publishers & Distributors Ltd, 5A Rajendra Nagar, Patna -800 016 was endorsed by the General Secretary], a non-Bihari, who had made Patna his home and who had experience of organising such book 📚 fairs in the country and abroad, was ably supported by the ever enthusiastic General Secretary Mr N.K. Jha who took on the major part of the responsibilities.
Meanwhile, Mr N. K. Jha visited Delhi and came into contact with Mr D.P. Yadav, one of Bihar’s most famous intellectual MP’s. Mr Jha also met the men behind Indian Council of Child Education and Federation of Educational Publishers in India. They also suggested that Patna organise a Children’s Book 📚 Fair to commemorate Children’s Day, traditionally held on Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru’s birth anniversary. Some assistance was promised from Delhi.
Mr Jha on return to Patna conferred with Gulati with utmost keenness and it was resolved between the two of them that Patna hold a full-fledged book 📚 fair on the lines as discussed in Delhi. Consequently the 1st meeting (21st October 1988) of the Advisory Committee was held in Delhi in the Parliament House under the Chairmanship of Dr B.D. Jatti, Former Vice President of India who was requested to become the Chief Patron of the Patna Book 📚 Fair.
Enthusiastic support came from the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who, on his own coloured portrait had the exact slogan for the fair ‘EVERY BOOK 📚 IS A BEACON OF LIGHT हर पुस्तक एक मशाल है ‘. This poster was distributed widely all over the country.
The 1988 Patna Book 📚 Fair was organised under the banner of Bihar Rajya Pustak Vyvasayi Sangh (बिहार राज्य पुस्तक व्यवसायी संघ) whose President Mr Nripendra Kumar Singh [Proprietor, Sahityalok, Ashok Market, Motijheel, Muzaffarpur – 842 001] from Muzaffarpur extended praiseworthy support. The Patna Book 📖 Fair was held in association with the Indian Council of Child Education and Federation of Educational Publishers in India with some 100 participants from different parts of the country. Racks were provided by the National Book Trust. Though it lacked adequate facilities, it drew large crowds and was a runaway success with the people of Patna in particular and Bihar in general. The construction of stalls was done by a local decorator.
The success of the fair 📚 owed in substantial part to the cooperation received from members of intelligentsia and the media which included the then Editor of the Hindustan Times, Mr P. Sen, the then Editor of the Times of India, Mr S. Sen, Mr Sanjay Dutta of H.T. , Shruti Shukla of H.T., Dr Srivastava of HT, Mr Ujjawal Singh of TOI, Mr Sudhanshu Shekhar of Aaj (आज), Mr A.S. Raghunath, Advt. Manager of HT, the Home Commissioner Shri Jiya Lal Arya, Mr Khurshid Ahmed, then of Mahima Advertising Agency, now his own ad. agency Advantage Media Consultants, Mr Naushad Rizvi, official photographer of the fair 📚 and Mr Arun Gupta of Mahima Advertising Agency and many others.
Though book 📚 fair was a spectacular success, the organisers had to face certain problems with regard to rapport amongst different agencies, some complaints from the participants with regard to inadequate facilities. It lacked unanimous opinion with regard to making it a regular feature. Thus it was decided that the fair 📚 will be a biennial feature contrary to public demand of making it an annual feature.
Notwithstanding the problems and encouraged by the success of the [1st PBF : 30 September to 8 October 1985] 2nd fair (13-23 Nov. 1988), the 3rd Patna Book Fair was held from 20th November to 3rd December 1990 on a much larger scale but under a different banner. An active young publisher of Patna suggested that a seperate body should be formed to manage the activities of such a great event. Bihar Rajya Pustak Vyvasayi Sangh (बिहार राज्य पुस्तक व्यवसायी संघ) liked the idea and ultimately a separate body (sister concern) was established. For this book 📚 fair, the late Rajiv Gandhi had given his consent [vide letter dt. 20.04.1990 through his Special Assistant] to inaugurate but it could not be inaugurated by him due to sudden political upheaval in the country when his presence in Delhi was absolutely important. For this book 📚 fair which was much publicised, a fool-proof plan was chalked out. Professional decoators ‘Karmi Brinda’ were invited from Calcutta and it was perhaps for the first time ever that a super structure giving the look of a ‘Rajmahal’ with illumination and beautiful art work of Jaipur was erected at the Gandhi Maidan which attracted from far and wide. If you had got the chance to pass through the area in evening, you might have felt as if you were enjoying an evening in Paris.
Hardly the opening ceremony had taken place that on the very next day the fairground witness a big ‘Hangama’ (हंगामा)’. To the utter pleasant surprise of the Organisers, the then Union Railway Minister Shri George Fernandes was spotted in the fairground without prior information to the Organisers. The Organisers felt delighted at the very presence of a Union Minister and extended a warm welcome to the Hon’ble Minister — the welcome announcement was made from the mike. But their happiness was shortlived as soon as some young boys gheraoed the Minister and then started slogans and counter slogans shouting over Mandal agitations which had rocked the country. With great difficulty the Minister was rescued by the police and the security guards who were on duty. Thanks to the dynamic in-charge of the Gandhi Maidan Police Station Mr Hasnain who personally supervised the rescue operation. Though the Organisers were greatly demoralised by this incident, this did not deter them from continuing with the show as it was the question of Bihar’s prestige. However, they made an appeal to the Home Commissioner Shri Jiya Lal Arya for providing adequate security arrangements to avoid re-occurence of such incidents. Immediately, on the instructions of the Home Commissioner, extra security was provided which included CRPF personnels. Praiseworthy contribution was made by Mr Ashok Chowdhary, Mr Uditendu Bose, Niranjan Kumar Sinha, and J. Tiwary in coordinating the security arrangements.
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