Javadekar presents Gandhi Albums to President of India

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi  : Union I & B Minister Prakash Javadekar, on the anniversary of Quit India Movement, presented the book “Mahatma Gandhi: Chitramaya Jeevan Gatha” to the President of India Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan on August 9, 2019. The book narrates the pictorial story of the life and times of Mahatma Gandhi through 550 photographs. It has been brought out by the Publications Division, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.

With rare photographs detailing the life and times of Mahatma Gandhi, the book not only portrays the birth of a shy boy, his early years and education, making of a Mahatma (in South Africa), his experiments with truth through his various movements–first in South Africa and then in India, but also the story of the intensive Indian Freedom Struggle of 20^th century, of which he was the main architect.

For the first time, the Hindi version of the book has been brought to further its outreach and cater to a wider reader base.The English version of the book was first brought out in 1954 taking photographs from the Sarvodaya Diwas Pradarshni organised at Rajghat in January 1949 to mark the first anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s death. This heritage publication, along with the new Hindi version, with photo support from National Gandhi Museum, has now been reprinted with better design and production quality.

Javadekar presented an overview of the books to the President terming these albums as a kaleidoscope of India’s freedom struggle.  He also highlighted the efforts of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Publications Division towards celebrating the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The task of the Ministry is not merely limited to its own efforts but also includes highlighting the efforts of all other Ministries of the Government through its Media Units in order to reach out to people effectively.

The Minister also apprised the President of the publication of Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, which is available in e-version as well. To mark the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Publications Division has brought out more than twenty books and  fifty e-books including a book on Kasturba Gandhi. The President Ram Nath Kovind appreciated the efforts of I&B Ministry in spreading the values and ideals which Gandhiji stood for. He also exhorted all government employees to participate actively in the celebrations marking the 150th Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Secretary, I&B, Amit Khare, introduced the Publications Division team behind these books – Principal Director General Dr Sadhana Rout, Director  Rajendra Bhatt, Jt. Director VK Meena, and Designer Neeraj Sahai –  to the President, according to a PIB release.