India celebrates the 25th edition of the National Reading Day today, June 19. The day is celebrated in honour of Father of India’s Library Movement - Puthuvayil Narayana Panicker. The country honours the man who not only initiated libraries in his home state, but was in fact responsible for the cultural movement to advocate reading in the state of Kerala. Here’s all you need to know about P.N. Panicker, India’s Library Movement and why we celebrate Reading Day on June 19.
To answer the last question first, we celebrate National Reading Day in honour of the man. Born on March 1, 1909, he passed away on June 19, 1995. His death anniversary is hence celebrated as National Reading Day in his memory, and his marked contribution to the culture of reading and in consequence to the universal literacy rate (100%) in the state of Kerala in 1990.