Authors are vigilant watchdogs of society as they make people aware and guide them through their work, President Droupadi Murmu said on Monday.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the 36th Annual Conference and Literary Festival of All India Santali Writers’ Association in Odisha’s Baripada, she noted, “Many litterateurs showed the path to our national movement during the freedom struggle. I urge writers to continuously create awareness in the society through their writings.”

Emphasising that creating awareness among the people of tribal communities is an important task, Murmu said building a strong and vigilant society is possible only through continuous awareness.

She said literature is the mirror of the culture of a community.

“Natural co-existence of humans with nature is seen in the tribal lifestyle. The tribal communities believe that the forest does not belong to them but they belong to the forest. Today climate change is a huge problem and nature-friendly living is very important to tackle this issue,” she said as she called upon writers to write about the lifestyles of tribal communities so that other people could know about the life values of tribal society.

Noting that India is a beautiful garden of different languages and literatures, the president said, “Language and literature are the subtle threads that bind the nation together and literature is enriched by extensive exchange between different languages which is possible through translations. The readers of Santhali language should also be introduced to the literature of other languages through translation. There is a need for similar efforts to make Santhali literature reach the readers of other languages.”

She also said there is a need to keep children engaged in self-study right from the beginning and added that anyone can become a good reader by doing self-study from childhood.

Highlighting the need to create entertaining and comprehensible children’s literature, Murmu stated that emphasis should be laid on creating interesting children’s literature not only in Santhali literature but in all Indian languages.

She also lauded the All India Santali Writers’ Association for promoting Santhali language since its establishment. She noted that use of Santhali language has been increased in government and non-government sectors, after its inclusion in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution on December 22, 2003.

On the occasion, Murmu also remembered former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee during whose tenure the Santhali language was included in the Eighth Schedule.

Later, the president also inaugurated an Eklavya Model Residential School at Kuliana.