Keep the reading habit alive in the AI age, says Jaykumar Rawal at Dhule district Marathi-Ahirani literary meet

Dhule: Information is a click away in the age of artificial intelligence, but turning it into knowledge needs the ability to read, write, reflect and think independently, said marketing and protocol minister and district guardian minister Jaykumar Rawal. He inaugurated the sixth district Marathi literary meet and Ahirani literary meet at the Principal Sadashivrao Mali Sahitya Nagari at Vidyavardhini College.

Rawal said the grant for the district literary meet had been raised from ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakh. He announced an additional ₹5 lakh a year through the district planning committee and ₹2.5 lakh for printing Ahirani books, and proposed an 'Ahirani Language and Literature Conservation Centre' in the city with a library and an auditorium. Ahirani is the culture and identity of Khandesh, he said.

Language is not just a means of expression but a force that preserves a society's culture, traditions and identity, and passing on the heritage of Marathi and Ahirani to the next generation is a shared responsibility, said the meet's president Prof L.G. Sonawane.

A souvenir and the books 'Akshaygandh' and 'Payja' were released, and an exhibition called 'Sahityikanche Gaon' (a village of writers) was opened. Veteran writer Principal Dr K.U. Sanghavi and poet P.A. Puranik received lifetime achievement awards. Mayor Mayadevi Pardeshi, reception committee chairman MLA Anup Agrawal and former Union minister Dr Subhash Bhamre were present.

Source: Esakal