SHILLONG: Meghalaya’s Minister for Arts and culture, Ronnie Lyngdoh made a call for preservation of the multi-lingual diversity in the state saying, “the beauty of the country lies in its people from different communities and culture.”
He was addressing the prize distribution ceremony of the Seventh Meghalaya Poetry competition 2017 cum North East Poetry Festival 2017 organized by the All India Poetess Conference (AIPC), Meghalaya chapter at St Edmund’s College here on Monday.
Encouraging the poets and poetesses to keep writing he said, “Every competitor is a winner, winning is not everything.”
As to the problems faced by the AIPC, Meghalaya chapter, he assured them that the challenges faced by them would be addressed.
“Meghalaya should get prominence in the national forum while poets and poetesses from the state should get recognition for their talents for excelling in the field of literature and culture,” he said.
Lyngdoh hoped that there comes a time when poets and poetesses from the state will get global recognitions in literature and bring laurels like Bob Dylan and Rabindranath Tagore.
“Government will find all help ways to provide help to the poets and poetesses,” he added.
There were nearly 400 participants in the AIPC contest. However, the AIPC, Meghalaya chapter, could not invite all the members from the eight N-E states to the conference because of financial constraint.
The AIPC have been facing fund crunch in publishing the poems of winners who have won in different categories in the contest. In this connection, Lyngdoh assured them that the necessary monetary requirement of Rs 50,000 was not too hard for the government to meet.