India’s first Military Literature Festival in Chandigarh 

 Punjab Chief Minister’s Senior Advisor, Lt. Gen. T.S. Shergill (retd), said military literature had ancient roots, with the longest poem, the Mahabharata, being all about warfare.

 He also spoke about the relevance of technology to military and literature, underlining the importance of promoting all aspects of the subject.

A two-day military literary festival, the first such event in the country that would focus on contemporary thought and promote recent publications on defence and national security, is being organised here by the Punjab Government from Nov27 to 28.Sources said the modalities and programme of the event were being worked out and different themes explored. Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had held a meeting in this regard yesterday.“Books published recently are being shortlisted and their authors would be invited to talk about their work. Panel discussions on the topic would also be held,” an official said. Besides, there could also be talks by eminent persons on current military issues and other aspects of national security as well as subjects like war stories, military history and acts of gallantry, the official added.The idea of a military literary festival was mooted by Governor VP Singh Badnore earlier this year while releasing a book on the legendary Saragarhi battle authored by the CM. He opined that a number of senior and distinguished retired defence officers, including close to a 100 lieutenant generals, were based in Chandigarh and their expertise and experience should be a source of enlightenment for others.