NEW DELHI: The 19th World Book Fair began at the Pragati Maidan here Saturday with 'India- The Nehru-Gandhi family indigenous publishing' as its spotlight. The nine-day fair, organized by the National Book Trust (NBT), has 35 foreign publishers exhibiting books from 15 countries. Spread over an area of 42,000 square meters, the fair has 2,400 stalls and 1,199 participants, besides representation from international bodies like ILO, WHO and UNESCO. Inaugurating the fair, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said the event has a rich legacy.

"It is organized by the National Book Trust which was set up by India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to promote the culture of reading books. Human civilization and books compliment each other and books play an important part in carrying the civilization further and ensuring cultural unity in a pluralistic country like India. "The intention of the fair is to make available hundreds of thousands of books to the maximum number of people," Sibal said. In a message, President Pratibha Patil said: "Books are storehouses of human knowledge and it is important that books from all disciplines be made available to readers in the country." The highlight of the national section of the fair is a special section on Jawaharlal Nehru featuring more than 150 books on his life, politics and philosophy.