Agartala: Tripura deputy chief minister Jishnu Devvarma on Sunday said the 36th Agartala Book Fair will commence from Monday with the theme Cultural Diversity of Tripura.

Devvarma told reporters on Sunday evening that his government would offer the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya National Integration Award for "outstanding contribution in the field of social service" during the 12-day book fair. An award would also be instituted in honour of Late Kalikinkar Debbarma, a noted sarod player of the state, he said.

The BJP-led government has continued nine other awards, which were introduced during the Left Front regime. These include Dhirendra Krishna Smriti Puraskar for painting and sculpture, Salil Krishna Smriti Puraskar for literary contribution in Bengali and Kokborok, Kabi Sukanta Puraskar and Sachin Deb Barman Puraskar, all started during the Left Front regime.

"The fair was immensely delayed because of election processes and other formalities of forming the government. However, we wanted to have it in a different way, rather than the stereotypical, tried and tested style," Devvarma said.

He said 124 book stalls will be set up at the fair this year. These include 76 stalls from Tripura, 39 from Bengal, five from Guwahati, two from New Delhi and one each from Mumbai and neighbouring Bangladesh.

The government has not raised the subsidies on books purchased in the book fair. Altogether 10 per cent subsidy will be offered during the fair. However, Devvarma said if the turnover was high, the government might step in to increase the subsidy amount.

The new government's ideological approach was partly reflected in the programme schedule as a host of seminars, poetry recitation and symposiums were announced including a recitation and discussion on patriotic poems and seminar on Shyamaprasad Mookherjee.