Banjagere Jayaprakash, chairman of the Karnataka Book Authority , said on Tuesday that the authority had urged the State government to provide a grant of Rs. 10 crore in its budget for the next fiscal.
Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Jayaprakash said that the amount would be used to finance 19 programmes to promote books, writers and reading Kannada language and literature.
Last year, the authority had got a grant of just Rs. 1 crore.
The authority also urged the Ministry of Kannada and Culture to send a directive to elected representatives and officials to give books instead of garlands and bouquets during public functions. This would lead to an increase in the reading habit and would also increase the sale of books. In order to encourage reading among the youth, the authority had decided to launch its ‘Pustaka Premi Balaga’ (book lovers’ group) in 100 colleges.
The authority had decided to start 30 ‘Sirigannada’ book showrooms in as many districts in the State to sell Kannada books.
These would be used to promote the activities of the balaga and they had already been started in 13 districts.
On Monday, Mr. Jayaprakash said that it was possible for people to meet the challenges of globalisation through innovative and creative programmes.
