New Delhi, Aug 2 (IANS) The National Book Trust (NBT) will have to reach down to the grassroots level with everybody’s efforts and cooperation, its director M.A. Sikander has said.
Addressing a gathering to celebrate NBT’s 54th foundation day with a cultural extravaganza at the Nehru Bhavan here Monday, Sikander, who joined the Trust July 29 from the Delhi University, said he had been reading NBT books since his childhood.
A statement Tuesday quoted former director Satish Kumar as saying: ‘The NBT has a significant place in the publishing industry which could not be achieved without the efforts of the employees.’
The NBT was inaugurated in August 1957 by then vice president S. Radhakrishnan.
Addressing the first inaugural gathering, then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru emphasised the importance of books, the habit of reading, his vision of a book reading society and the role to be played by NBT in realising the dream.
NBT publishes nearly 2,000 books for children and adults every year in a variety of regional languages like Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Oriya and Konkani besides Hindi.
