Overview
- Lt Governor Manoj Sinha formally flagged off the inaugural Reading Marathon on Saturday at SKICC and the banks of Dal Lake, leading thousands of students who read and ran in the event.
- The National Book Trust and the District Administration Srinagar organised the marathon as part of the Chinar Book Festival and Education Week to mark six years of the National Education Policy.
- Sinha urged participants to take three pledges to make reading a daily habit, adopt environmental conservation, and commit to bringing positive social change.
- The programme used the theme 'Run for a Green Future' and included nation-building messaging invoking Kargil-era heroes, while many students carried placards reading 'Say No To Drugs, Say Yes To Books'.
- Organisers framed the marathon as a public-literacy and youth-engagement model that builds on global read-aloud traditions and aims to extend education beyond classrooms into community and environmental action.