In a bid to inculcate the book reading habit among the people, a special decision was taken in the cabinet meeting held in Dibrugarh on 23 December 2024 and 2025 was declared as the Year of Reading.
In line with this initiative, for the first time the ‘Assam Book Fair’ was organised at Khanapara in Guwahati. According to the decision of the cabinet meeting, book fairs will be organized in all the districts within the current year and arrangements will be made to give books as a New Year gift.
“We have to create an intellectual environment in Assam,” Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma said on social media, adding, “Even before the announcement of 2025 as the year of books, we had already tried to lay the foundation of a society oriented towards studies. For this, in 2024, we had sanctioned ₹259.70 Cr for the construction of 2,597 libraries in Assam.”
“Over 2000 GPs, 400 Municipal wards will be covered,” the Chief Minister said, adding, “This initiative will provide facilities like modern buildings, books, furniture, computers, internet connectivity etc.”
The Chief Minister said that the year of reading would be celebrated by organizing a book fairs and various government programmes will also be organised. This initiative will play an important role in inculcating the habit of buying and reading books among the younger generation of Assam.
