Granthamela boosted deliberations on future of book-papers

Guwahati: Amidst the threat of spreading novel coronavirus (precisely
the Omicron variant)  across India, Asom Granthamela (Assam Book Fair)
came to a successful end in Guwahati, the virtual capital of
Northeast. Organised jointly by Asom Prakashan Parishad (Publication
Board Assam, the government sponsored literary institution) and All
Assam Publishers & Book Sellers Association maintaining necessary
Covid-19 precautions, the 12-day event genuinely paved ways for
observation, debate and resolutions over the future of books and also
physical newspapers.
Braving the cold wave, thousands of book-lovers from different parts
of the region thronged at Assam Engineering Institute playground in
Chandmari locality every day to celebrate the festival of reading,
information and wisdom. Nearly 150 book-publishing groups and
retailers comprising a few from neighbouring Bangladesh, as well as
Delhi and Kolkata besides the local publication houses showcased their
printing works. They were put in six rows in memory of renowned
Assamese intellectuals namely Hemchandra Goswami, Padmanath Gohain
Barua, Panindranath Gogoi, Giripada Devchoudhury, Rabin Devchoudhury
and Sananta Tanti.
Inaugurating the book fair on 29 December 2021, State education
minister Ranoj Pegu emphasized on developing a culture of book reading
and he  insisted on translating various literary works in Assamese to
different larger languages and also translating ethnic language works
of the region into Assamese. Pegu, also the Chairman of  Prakashan
Parishad, expressed happiness that more people are now reading books
as they acquired the decent habit with an aim to escape the loneliness
created by nationwide corona-lockdown days.
The minister also honoured  Nandita Devi with Prakashan Parishad
literary award for her novel ‘Bongol Bohu Door’ along with its
publisher Nagen Sarma of Jyoti  Prakashan.  Kuladhar Saikia, president
of Asom Sahitya Sabha, the State’s highest literary forum, graced the
inaugural function to stress on popularising the books among young
people with varied and rich  contents. He argued that new technology
should be used for making books available to them.  Noni Gopal
Mahanta, adviser to the State education department, revealed that even
after the invasion of internet, the books remain popular around the
world.
The inaugural function was attended by Prakashan Parishad secretary
Pramod Kalita, its vice-president Sumanta Chaliha, top education
department officer Preetom Saikia, State publishers & book-sellers
association’s office-bearers Imran Ahmed, Baharul Islam Choudhury,
etc. The first evening’s cultural program was inaugurated by Pabitra
Margherita, member-secretary of the State level advisory committee
for student and youth welfare.
Mentionable is that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the publishers &
book-sellers could not organise Northeast Book Fair in 2020 and it
even failed to accommodate the annual event because of violent
anti-CAA (citizenship amendment act) agitation  in 2019 that almost
defaced the city with panicky situation among the residents. However,
Prakashan Parishad successfully held Guwahati Granthamela in 2020 with
visible public support.
Organisers of both the events  joined hands this time to go for a
combined trade show, where State chief minister  Himanta Biswa Sarma
took a positive initiative. Sarma, who could not grace the inaugural
function,  visited the fair laer and interacted with the book-lovers.
A large number of youths at the venue applauded Sarma, where he
appreciated efforts of the organisers for making the festival of
wisdom possible. Next year, both the events may take place separately
if the corona-situation improves, he commented.
There were however initial resentments among a section of book lovers
as the name of  Granthamela was temporarily changed from Guwahati Book
Fair (or Northeast Book Fair) to Asom Granthamela. But it was done
under a difficult situation and  Prakashan Parishad has publicly
announced that it has no intention to dishonour the legacy of Guwahati
Granthamela that started its voyage in 1984.
People of Assam will always remember contributions of the great souls
including author-journalist Chandra Prasad Saikia who were
instrumental in organizing the first book fair in the region.
Prakashan Parishad joined hands with National Book Trust (of India) to
launch the book fair movement and it was a huge success. Later
Prakashan Parishad took enough challenges to organise the book fair
independently in 1987 and it continued.
In the initial years, the regular venue of Guwahati Granthamela was
the Judges field on the south bank of mighty river Brahmaputra, which
was later overcrowded by the book enthusiasts. Soon a large number of
publishers and booksellers from various parts of the country started
participating in the book fair and lately the venue was shifted to the
present location to accommodate more participants and appreciators.
“With the availability of cheaper mobile internet services across the
country there were apprehensions that the young people might turn away
from the practice of reading. But till now it has been proved wrong.
Various exciting (extreme) audio-visuals, made easily available
through the internet, can attract a huge number of people, but they
finally get solace in serious reading only,” said Dhiraj Goswami of
publishers & book-sellers association, adding that books worth rupees
five crore were sold in the fair.
Visiting the Granthamela, Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal also
appreciated the organisers for taking the initiative. Buying several
books and interacting with booklovers at the venue, Sonowal also
commented that  books remain the symbols of identity of a community
and society. The young generation should inculcate the habit of
reading books, he opined, adding that a book revolution should be
everyone’s resolution. Assam children's literature trust secretary
Hrishikesh Goswami accompanied Sonowal at the venue.
The book fair witnessed the formal release of more than 50 new books
in  two halls named after distinguished Assamese authors Dr
Lakshminandan Bora and Homen Borgohain. Prakashan Parishad itself
released 16 books at the fair. It also showcased the digital channel,
where Assamese folk-tales are recorded with the voice of celebrity
performers. A number of literary discussions as well as children
programs were organised. Every evening, cultural programs were
inaugurated by celebrated personalities like Moloya Goswami,  Surya
Goswami, Aimi Barua, Gayatri Mahanta, Partha Sarathi Mahanta, etc at
the venue.
Bangladesh assistant high commissioner, posted in Guwahati, Shah
Mohammad Tanvir Mansur also graced the book fair to welcome
representatives of three visiting publication houses namely Murdhanya,
Sarulipee and  Joyotee from his country. In a brief meeting, attended
by Mihir Deuri, editor of Prakash (published by Prakashan Parishad),
author-journalist Rupam Barua, columnist Ranen Kr Goswami, author
Prasanta Chakrabarty, poet-journalist Nabajyoti Pathak, Jintu
Geetartha  with a few others, the diplomat  thanked India again for
supporting their freedom movement.
Presence of many eminent Assamese authors and academicians including
Govinda Prasad Sarma, Hiren Gohain, Shyama Prasad Sarma, Dhrubajyoti
Bora, Gajendra Adhikari, Pranabjyoti Deka, Rita Choudhury, Anuradha
Sarma Pujari, Rani Gohain, Bipul Deuri, Jogesh Kakati, Mira Thakur,
Ankita Dutta, Raktim Patar, Ajanta Burhagohain, Ranju Hazarika,
Jayanta Madhab Bora, Abhijit Bora, Phanindra Kumar Devchoudhury,
Pranjit Bora, Nilim Kumar, Bandita Phukan, Apurba Saikia, Atanu
Bhattacharya, Satyendra Narayan Goswami, etc were enjoyed by the young
book-enthusiasts.
Similarly, notable personalities like Dinesh Goswami, Dayananda
Pathak, DN Chakrabarty, Gangapada Devchoudhury, Narayan Talukder,
Jagadish Patgiri, Paramananda Majumder, Mrinal Chandra Kalita, Khagen
Saikia, Niranjan Kalita, Arindam Borkataky, Mayur Bora, Utpal Dutta,
Debashish Sarma, Noni Borpujari, Aminul Haque, Nilima Thakuria,
Baharul Islam, Bhagirathi,  Devajit Bora, Pabitra Gogoi, Subodhmalla
Barua, Pranjal Sarma Vasistha, Hyder Hussain, Bhaskar Sarma, Naba
Talukder, etc visited the stalls adding colour to the festivity.
A session dedicated to Nilamoni Phukan, the third Assamese litterateur
(after Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya and Mamoni Raisom Goswami) to
receive  Jnyanpeeth award recently was intriguing for the literary
enthusiasts. The closing ceremony on 9 January 2022 was graced by
Jnyanpeeth awardee Damodar Mauzo, an illustrious story writer,
novelist and critic in Konkani language from Goa. Bodo Sahitya Sabha
president Toren Boro was also present on the occasion.
An interactive session involving young writers, where they narrated
their literary dreams, received appreciation from the audience.
Moderated by this writer with supports from promising author Geetali
Bora, the session was participated by budding talents like Anindita
Parag Saikia, Aparajita Pujari, Utpal Deka, Monika Das, Pranjal
Talukder, Gitali Saikia, Srinjana Sarma,  Diganta Nibir, Pranjal
Barman, Manaswini Mahanta,  Jayanta Dutta, Farhan Javed, Pranjal A
Sarma, Ranjit Patgiri, Manoj Neog, Mukutraj Sarma, Ankurita Phukan,
Dwip H Borhi, Ratan  Sadiyal, Shyamanta Payeng, Munidra Baishya,
Nayanjyoti Sarma, etc.  They were unanimous in their views that the
medium (physical paper) may change in future, but the habit of reading
will continue forever.
While the number of book lovers is still growing, the quality readers
of Assam based newspapers continues to fall. The largest north-eastern
State with over 30 million population supports nearly 25 morning daily
newspapers in different languages along with a large number of
periodicals and magazines. Guwahati hosts eight satellite news
channels (mostly free-to-air) along with a number of local cable
channels and hundreds of news portals. Their cumulative
readership-viewership may reach 3.5 million, but the number of social
media users in Assam should cross 4.5 million.
Reactions from the public (sensitive readers) against a news item in
any newspaper (also news channel) are usual in the largest democracy,
but outrages against the mainstream media outlets in digital platforms
for not covering a particular issue is definitely an unusual
phenomenon. Assam witnessed such a public fury against some of the
editor-journalists for avoiding the press conferences by opposition
political parties who targeted the State chief minister for his
family’s alleged land scam.
The organized public uproar in the alternate media was so intense that
the celebrity editor-journalists did not dare to clarify even their
positions. They preferred to avoid the debates killing time.
Shockingly, no media worker’s outfit, civil society groups or reader
and viewers came forward defending the otherwise glamourous
editor-journalists, when they faced the abusive social media posts for
many days.
The controversy started with an investigative news article, presented
by two important digital media outlets in the first week of December
2021, where it was alleged that Assam chief minister was indirectly
involved in a land-grab episode. The content indicated that a real
estate company, founded by the saffron leader’s wife, illegally
occupied around 18 acres of government land meant for landless
farmers.
Based on the specific media contents, three political parties namely
Asom Jatiya Parishad, Raijor Dol and the Congress organized separate
press conferences demanding proper investigations into the alleged
scam. For reasons best known to the editor-proprietors of
Guwahati-based newspapers and news channels, they did not cover the
issue and simply tried to kill the news.
The issue should have died naturally after some time. But a sudden
outbursts of anti-media posts in the digital platforms surfaced in the
morning hours on 9 December. For almost three days, most of the
editors were named and shamed for their silence over the issue in
social media. News channel’s logos and photographs of some celebrity
editor-journalists were made viral with abusive words.
Soon the State legislative assembly began its winter session on 20
December and as usual the first day’s proceedings were interrupted by
the opposition legislators over the issue. They wanted the assembly to
discuss it, but the speaker did not allow it. Later the opposition
legislators staged a walkout in protest. But amazingly the development
was not prominently published by most of the newspapers and news
channels. However, many metro-based morning dailies provided space for
the same.
Reluctance for covering such issues by the majority of Assam’s
mainstream media outlets can be guessed from their dependence on
government advertisement revenues for acute survival. They are lately
facing a serious financial crisis since the Covid-19 hit the country.
The pandemic resulted in abrupt loss of circulation for newspapers and
also commercial advertisement revenues. The news channels also lost
their quality viewership drastically.
So, most of the newspaper managements today cannot go against the
government policy even if it becomes necessary for sustaining their
credibility. Thus, they have slowly turned out to be an unofficial
organ of the government (also the ruling party). They cannot go for
newfound business models like crowd-funding as they are not sure of
getting support from their valued readers. Personal corruption of some
well-known editors also added complications to the situation, where
public goodwill towards the media fraternity continues to erode.
Recently, a senior Assamese scribe made a sensational social media
post claiming that at least seven editors (of city-based news
channels) possessed more wealth than actually they can earn legally
from their jobs. Speaking to this writer, Dipankar Devsarmah, who has
been in the profession for more than three decades, lamented that
because of some greedy editor-media owners, the media industry has
lost its credibility (whatever left).
Talking about naming the editors in the post, Devsarmah asserted that
it may be unpleasant for many, but it's true. He even made a
declaration in the post that all details about the said editors’
properties and luxury vehicles are with him and would make it public
in need. Lately, editor Ajit Bhuyan (presently a member of Rajya
Sabha) resigned from his post citing the reason of not being able to
cover the CM family’s land issue. Once a popular editor Bhuyan stated
clearly, “To remain true to my conscience I had to take this
decision.”
(The author is Guwahati-based journalist and media commentator)