IMPHAL, May 14: The status of a society is reflected by its literary works, said Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam today while addressing the 81st Annual Meeting of Manipuri Sahitya Parisad at Maharaja Chadrakirti Auditorium, Palace Compound.
Books not only inform the society but it also transform the society, said Gaikhangam claiming that Dinesh Tongbra’s 23rd Century had achieved this distinction. This literary work from Dinesh which depicts his imagination of the possible situation of Manipur in the future has made great impact on our society and has been adapted into a play and a film, he stated. Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Boris Pasternak and Dr Kamal have influenced the society immensely through their literary works, he added.
Gaikhangam regretted that people in the state have embraced destructive behaviours which have debased the pristine culture and practices that have existed from time. Present method of agitations, mob culture, vandalism, refusing to claims dead bodies etc have become the new culture, he stated urging authors and script writers to streamline the debasement of culture in such a way that love, peace and harmony triumph.
Minister of education, Dr Kh Ratankumar Singh said Manipuri Sahitya Parisad is related not only to literature but also to other social issues. Referring to MSP as an organisation which has given vast contributions for betterment of society, the minister said the proposal from the parishad for increasing its annual grant from Rs one to five lakh is very much feasible and promised to approve it at the earliest after getting consent from chief minister Okram Ibobi.
President of MSP Prof Th Tombi Singh also attended the two-day meet which featured a seminar on the life and works of Bachaspatimayum Jayentakumar Sharma.
Later, a journal was also released by the dais members of today’s function.