The second edition of Tata Steel Bhubaneswar Literary Meet (TSBLM) was inaugurated today by Ms Nayantara Sahgal in the presence of Mr Anand Sen, President, TQM and Steel Business, Tata Steel, Mr. Soumya Ranjan Pattnaik, Editor, Sambad and Mr. Ananta Mahapatra, renowned theatre personality. The two-day meet will witness participation from over 40 renowned writers and novelists. The Tata Steel Bhubaneswar Literary Meet is in alignment with Tata Steel’s corporate philosophy of encouraging and supporting initiatives that aim to foster and encourage intellectual and cultural pursuits in society.

The second edition of this meet aims to further the literary pursuit of Odisha, a state that is globally renowned for its cultural heritage. The idea is to bring on board varied areas of interest such as theatre, dance, music, cinema, journalism, and politics, all of which directly or indirectly influences literature of a given period.

While inaugurating the meet, Ms Nayantara Sehgal said: “Writers and their writings come in all shapes and sizes. While some can spin one novel a year, others take years of inspiration to pen a line. We have a great responsibility as writers to shoulder this country’s future as a secular republic.”

Speaking at the inauguration, Mr Anand Sen, said: “Tata Steel’s engagement with the state of Odisha spans more than a century. Besides, all our social engagements here, it is also our endeavour to partner literary pursuits such as this. We hope that this event will grow in stature and become a must- attend for the literature enthusiasts”.

Tata Steel Bhubaneswar Literary Meet will present two days of intellectual discussions, debates, sessions on the rich literary world of Odisha and India. On its first day, conversation revolved around defining a classic, in a realm of literature that informs, enlightens and endures while being periodically questioned, critiqued and survive multiple trials.

In the session on Test Match, panelists elaborated Test match as the pinnacle of cricket, the finer art while T20 was a miniature that perfectly defines, ‘living in the moment.’

The session also saw the launch of Susmita Bagchis’s book ‘Beneath a rougher sea’ by Ms. Sahgal.  The discussion took up the growing concern on mental illness that remain undiagnosed,  the challenges of caregivers and the attitude of society towards people with pyscho-somatic behaviour.

About Tata Steel

Established in 1907 as Asia's first integrated private sector steel company, Tata Steel Group is among the leading steel manufacturers in the world with an annual crude steel capacity of over 26.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). It is now the world's second-most geographically-diversified steel producer, with operations in 26 countries and a commercial presence in over 50 countries. The Tata Steel Group, with a turnover of US$ 26.13 billion in FY '12, has over 80,000 employees across five continents and is a Fortune 500 company. The Group’s vision is to be the world’s steel industry benchmark in “Value Creation” and “Corporate Citizenship” through the excellence of its people, its innovative approach and overall conduct. In 2008, Tata Steel India became the first integrated steel plant in the world, outside Japan, to be awarded the Deming Application Prize 2008 for excellence in Total Quality Management. In 2012, Tata Steel became the first integrated steel company in the world to win the Deming Grand Prize 2012 instituted by the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers.