Kerala - Kochi   

Kochi Book Festival opens

KOCHI: Sanskrit poet and winner of the Jnanpith Award Satya Vrat Shastri has said that Indians always had an urge to write and have been doing so for thousands of years.

Delivering the inaugural address at the 13th Kochi International Book Festival (KIBF) at the Ernakulathappan Grounds here on Friday, Mr. Shastri said that as per the records of the National Mission for Manuscripts constituted by the Government of India, a unique wealth of five million such writings continued to remain in manuscripts, thus hidden from knowledge seekers. “A couple of millions in the possession of individuals and small institutions may yet be unaccounted for,” said the scholar, who is the only writer in Sanskrit to receive the country’s highest literary award.

Devaswom Minister Kadannappally Ramachandran, who was the chief guest, said that in the present times when there were a lot of bad influences to misguide youngsters it was vital to bring them back to the world of letters. Former Judge of the Supreme Court V.R. Krishna Iyer, who was felicitated at the function, said that it was high time that democratically-elected rulers started reading. N.D. Premachandran, vice-president of KIBF, presided over the function. Winner of Vayalar Award M. Thomas Mathew delivered the keynote address. Dominic Presentation, MLA, and Deputy Mayor C.K. Manisankar were present.

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