Guwahati, May 7: A magazine that provided literary fodder to hungry Assamese readers for 26 years before dying an untimely death in 2001 was revived today.

Published by the Publication Board of Assam, the publication branch of the state government, Prakash had a glorious journey under renowned editors like Chandraprasad Saikia, Satish Bhattacharyya and Birendra Kumar Bhattacharyya.

The magazine provided a platform to almost all Assamese writers since its publication in 1975 but went out of print after internal problems in the publishing house.

At the Kanaklal Baruah Auditorium in Assam State Museum, the monthly magazine was re-launched in the presence of the president of Asam Sahitya Sabha Rong Bong Terang, linguist Pramod Chandra Bhattacharyya, secretary of Children Literary Trust Hrishikesh Goswami and state education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma (who is also the ex-officio president of the Publication Board of Assam).

Another children’s magazine, Mukuta, which was published by the Publication Board of Assam from 1987 to 1996, also got a second lease of life today.

While Terang is the editor of Prakash, Hrishikesh Goswami is the editor of Mukuta.

“It is a proud moment for all of us,” said the education minister.

“Somehow or the other, a calculation of loss and profit is involved with private publishing houses. But Prakash will be free from all loss-and-profit calculations. I have asked the officials to concentrate more on the content rather than distribution,” said Sarma.

“The articles which will be published in Prakash should have long term repercussions. Some of them may not be relevant for today but if they prove to be significant even after 20 years, it will be the credit of Prakash,” he said.

He said the Publication Board of Assam will endeavour to create a group of writers who can concentrate on writing for Prakash alone and the state government will take care that they do not face any financial difficulty

The literary stalwarts present at the function hoped that the magazine would be able to retain its past glory.

It was a huge responsibility, said Terang. “I am wondering whether I will be able to retain the glory that Prakash achieved under Chandraprakash Saikia,” said Terang.

Set up under the direction of then chief minister Bimala Prasad Chaliha in 1958 in an old Assam-type house of Bharatratna Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi at Silpukhuri, the Publication Board of Assam’s aim was to publish books written in Assamese and other regional languages of the state.

Biswanarayan Shastri, a scholar in Sanskrit language, was appointed its founder secretary. Till now, the Publication Board of Assam has brought out more than 1,000 titles, which include biography, autobiography, fiction, short story collection, children’s books, poetry collections, prose collections, translated books, drama and religion.

Sarma said from this year the state government would grant Rs 1 lakh each to 100 writers.

“We will give Rs 1 lakh each to 100 writers. In return, they will have to give us good books,” said Sarma.