News Room

" ‘A Man Called Bapu’ is published by Pratham Books "
   The Hindu - February 1, 2008

Governor Rameshwar Thakur has emphasised that books on the life and achievements of Mahatma Gandhi should be introduced to children with a perspective, as the Father of the Nation was only “a topic in the history or social studies text book” for a majority of children.

He was speaking at the release of “A Man Called Bapu”, brought out by Bangalore-based Pratham Books here on Thursday.

Explaining Gandhiji’s views on the role of education in the perpetual process of nation building and individual development, Mr. Thakur pointed out that the school curriculum would generally include facts and incidents in a chronological order about the life of the Mahatma. But what children would like to read was how Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi metamorphosed into Mahatma Gandhi, he said. Admiring the content and quality of the book, Mr. Thakur said that the roots of the art of storytelling in the country could be traced to the oriental texts such as the Panchatantra.

In the modern context, books were a prerequisite for success in life. Children should be inculcated into the habit of reading, he added.

The Chairperson of Pratham Books Rohini Nilekani said that the objective of the publication was to publish books that could reach children of all societies in the country, in multiple languages with an affordable price.

The publication had so far brought out over 125 titles on folk tales, stories from the pages of history and various science topics in nine Indian languages, in addition to English, she added.

Pratham Books was planning to publish 100 titles annually, in many regional languages, she said.