NBT India: an update

The minister for foreign affairs & minister for law of The Republic of Singapore, K Shanmugam calling on the union minister for HRD Smriti Zubin Irani, in New Delhi recently.National Book Trust, India, is leaving no stones unturned to produce and encourage the production of good literature in English, Hindi and other Indian languages. Here’s an update on their various activities recently:

Singapore-India diplomatic relations:

K Shanmugham, minister for foreign affairs and minister of law, The Republic of Singapore recently met Smriti Zubin Irani, hon’ble minister for human resource development, Govt of India at Shastri Bhavan, New Delhi. During the meeting, the Shanmugham mentioned the close relations between Singapore and India and the multifaceted partnership in economic cooperation, defence & security issues and education & culture. He also mentioned that both countries are celebrating 50 years of establishment of diplomatic relations from August, 2014-2015, for which yearlong activities are planned, highlighting our vibrant partnership.

Singapore as Guest of Honour Country at NDWBF 2015: As part of the celebrations of 50 years of establishment of diplomatic relations, Smriti offered Singapore to be the Guest of Honour Country during the next New Delhi World Book Fair (NDWBF) to be held from February 14-22, 2015. She also mentioned that the National Book Trust, India is translating many books of Singapore, including the book titled 50 Stories from My Life authored by the former president of Singapore SR Nathan. Both the ministers also discussed further strengthening of educational relations and suggested a platform of officials which could regularly meet to charter a way for collaboration, particularly in the field of Science Education, Research and Skill Development. hon’ble minister for HRD also proposed an ‘India Connect’ programme to enable students of Singapore to visit educational institutions in India.

Book Promotion Centres: NBT India is set to open two Book Promotion Centres at Hyderabad and Agartala to offer Telugu and Bangla books in the region. While, the work of two more Book Promotion Centres at Patna and Kochi is going on. Besides, two Book Promotion Centres are already functional successfully at Chennai and Guwahati.

Agreement with African country: NBT India and The General Egyptian Book Organisation (GEBO), Cairo, Egypt, have agreed to participate on reciprocal basis in international book fairs on annual basis being organised by each other, namely New Delhi World Book Fair by NBT, India and Cairo International Book Fair by GEBO.