India, on June 19 observes the ‘National Reading Day’. The Day is celebrated in honour of the Father of Library Movement in Kerala – PN Paniker whose death anniversary falls on June 19. Reading month will be celebrated from June 19 to July 18.
Additionally, the P.N. Panicker Foundation in collaboration with the government is carrying out the initiative to celebrate outlining several reading-related activities to be conducted virtually this year because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The activities suggested by the foundation are a webinar on the importance of reading, digital reading pledge, digital library, intellectual property rights, and so on.
Moreover, CBSE has asked schools to celebrate Reading Day, Reading Week, and Reading Month by organizing similar online activities or other activities involving technology available to students.
This year, India will mark 25th National Reading Day.
The HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ had started a social media campaign ‘#MyBookMyFriend’ to encourage reading among students. As part of the campaign top celebrities, sports stars, athletes, and leaders shared the book they were reading on social media. The campaign was launched in April 2020 on the occasion of World Book Day.
Puthuvayil Narayana Panicker, a former school teacher, under his leadership that a collective of libraries then functioning in the Kingdom of Travancore came together to form the “All Travancore Granthashala Sangham” or “Travancore Library Association” in 1945.
