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A large cross-section of subject experts and eminent national and international authors would be descending upon or connecting with Bhopal to participate in the fourth season of the much-awaited Bhopal Literature and Arts Festival.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan will inaugurate the three-day festival at Bharat Bhawan on 25th March 2022. The festival would conclude on 27th evening.
This was informed at a press conference organised here on Wednesday by Mr. Raghav Chandra, former IAS and chairman, Society for Culture and Environment.
Mr. Chandra said “The Bhopal Lit Fest is different from other such Festivals in that it is being developed and branded as a ‘Knowledge Kumbh’ for the young generation to develop a world-view which combines the best of global and local. This is especially relevant for youngsters who are being overwhelmed by an aggressive invasion by commercially motivated western social media and OTT channels that are concerned with getting footfalls and earning revenues at the expense of traditional education and values.”
BLF is aimed and poised to bring society together to appreciate works of art and literature, to encourage creativity, to revive an interest in mankind’s and in particular India’s glorious history and heritage, to nurture tolerance in young mindsets, and above all to foster an attitude of patriotism and nation-building, said Festival Director Raghav Chandra, an author himself and a former bureaucrat. At the special request of the Union Defence Ministry, a few key sessions on military gallantry have been kept. The French government too has sent a top French philosopher and author of many books Pascal Bruckner.
Mr Chandra said that diverse subjects such as wildlife conservation, environment, national security, politics, film criticism, history, heritage, diplomacy and social issues including, education and population dynamics, would be discussed by eminent authors and scholars during the three days.
“We started the knowledge festival in 2019 and despite Covid-19 we did not allow the series to break and held the 2021 edition virtually”, Chandra said.
Besides the tourism and culture departments of the MP Government who are partnering within organising what has come to be known as a major literary and knowledge event and is a part of MP Government’s Kala Panchang, Chandra said several leading industries and businesses of MP and Bhopal’s premier educational institution Sistec have come forward with their support to the BLF event.
Former Election Commissioner SY Quaraishi ( Population Myth), Former flight crew Nidhi Chapekhar who was a terror blast victim in the Brussels airport bomb attack (Unbroken), former diplomats Manjeev Singh Puri and Syed Akbaruddin who will recount the story of how India scored a historical victory over UK to get an Indian judge elected to the International Court of Justice at The Hague( India vs UK), Nitin Gokhale, a top security analyst (about the long-pending Siachen dispute), Vikram Sampath and Uday Mahurkar ( who will talk about different dimensions and various debates surrounding Veer Savarkar the great freedom-fighter),
Dr. Satish Pande and Dr. Surichi Pande, top nature lovers and author couple from Pune, Gen Milan Naidu, former Vice chief of the Indian Army (Nizam-i-Bhopal), Manjeev Singh Puri ( Sikkhism Globally), Abhilash Khandekar (The Legacy of Scindias), ex-Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar (Khaki files which was made into the famous series called Delhi Crime), Viju B ( Flood and Fury) , Krupa Ge discussing rivers, Pawan Misra talking about his childhood friend who won a Param Vir Chakra posthumously in Kargil and wrote his last letter to the author, Ambreen Zaidi who has written about war widows, Anukrti Upadhyay who has won this year’s Sushila Devi Award for the best work of fiction written by a woman author; and many other writers, including a large number of women authors would be illuminating each day’s sessions.
Shobhaa De the celebrity writer who has written about changing human relationships during covid would be one of the star attractions. The First Lady of the Republic of Iceland, a global writer of Canadian origin, Eliza Jean Reid would be in a virtual discussion with Raghav Chandra about subjects like gender equality and governance in Iceland.
In all, there are 45 enriching sessions tackling diverse subjects. There would be Awards to school Students who have excelled in poetry performances held under the BLF banner. The winners will be given a chance to perform in BLF.
A few discussions have also been kept in which industry leaders would be presenting about new themes. One such would be on the subject of Fantasy Sports and the facts and fallacies surrounding it. Another session would be on the latest global trends in electric mobility and energy transition in the light of India’s global commitments in the recently concluded COP26 in Scotland. Mumtaz Khan fashion designer of Bhopal would make a presentation about the ethnic fashions of the Begums of Bhopal.
For the first time, tribal artists led by Padma Shri Bhajju Shyam and Deepa Shyam will be painting a canvas live, in front of the audience. The painting will be autographed by the authors participating in the BLF and the painting will be auctioned with proceeds going largely to tribal artists.The mascot for this year’s BLF is a work done exclusively by Padma Shri tribal artist Bhuri Bai.
