CHAPTER V BOOK PROMOTION AND COPYRIGHT
With the expansion of educational facilities in the country, the demand for books has intensified both in terms of quality and quantity. Books in greater number as also books on various topics, have to be produced and made available to the public at moderate prices. With this in view, this Ministry has taken several measures towards the production and promotion of books. Some of the more important programmes undertaken in this regard are briefly described below :
NATIONAL BOOK TRUST In furtherance of its objectives, the Trust has been bringing out books in Indian languages as well as in English, covering a wide variety of topics in the fields of education, science, literature, art, philosophy, history and culture. The Trust has also been organising annual Book Fairs on a national basis and regional book exhibitions. Further, the Trust has been organising seminars, symposia, workshops and training courses on problems connected with the writing, translation, publication, distribution and promotion of books, with the objective, inter alia, of encouraging publishing of language books in the country. Besides, the Trust has served the needs of the student population by subsidising the publication of a large number of books useful as text books or supplementary reading at the University level.
The bulk of the Trust's publishing programme is in the following series : India- the Land and the People, National Biography, Popular Science, World of Today, Folklore of India and Young India Library, besides a number of books of general nature outside such series. The Trust has made a beginning by publishing, in collaboration with the Adult Education Directorate, some books meant for neo-literates in a few Indian languages. During 1978-79 the Trust has so far, i.e. till December, 1978 brought out 42 titles bringing the total number of publications so far brought out to 862, a large
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majority of them in Hindi and Indian languages. The Trust is now more determined than ever before to make a serious effort to locate new authors who could write in their respective languages, original books on several specific areas of human knowledge and endeavour with special reference to the Indian context. During the remaining period of the year, the Trust proposes to bring out 50 more titles.
The Trust has so far organised 9 National Book Fairs in important metropolitan centres of India. The Ninth National Book Fair held at Bangalore from 29th December, 1978 to 7th January, 1979, was the largest ever National Book Fair. Over 200 publishers and booksellers from the public and private sectors participated in the Fair. The Fair, for the first time, exhibited books of interest to neo- literates. Another special feature of the Fair was a colourful exhibition of select books for children, which was organised in the context of the International Year of the Child. The Trust has also organised 80 regional book exhibitions so far and proposes to organise 5 regional exhibitions and regional book fairs during the year.
As part of its programme of holding seminars on the theme of 'Publishing in the Next Decade' the Trust during the year organised four seminars on publishing in Telugu, Marathi, Assamese and Oriya languages. The Trust proposes to organise one more seminar during the remaining period.
In addition the Trust has been implementing the special projects, namely, the Aadan-Pradan Programme and the Nehru Bal Pustakalaya, related to national integration and providing communication channels on an inter-regional and inter-linguistic basis by the translation of outstanding books in one language into other Indian languages.
(a) Aadan Pradan Under this project, ten outstanding books from 12 major Indian languages, are translated and published in all the other 11 languages, so that the readers of one linguistic region understand and appreciate the way of life and creative works of other regions and thus promote inter-regional understanding.
During 1978-79, till the end of December 1978, 20 titles have been brought our, bringing the total number of titles brought out under the Scheme to 406. During the remaining period of the year, 25 more titles are expected to be brought out.
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(b) Nehru Bal Pustakalaya Under this Scheme, the Trust brings out attractively designed and illustrated supplementary reading material for children, with national integration as the underlying idea. During the year so far, till December, 1978, 13 titles have been published bringing the total number to 520 titles, 13 more titles are expected to be completed by March 1979.
The Trust has taken several steps to improve its sales per- formance. Some of the corrective measures taken by the Trust in the recent past are diversification of their sales outlets all over the country and appointment of field representatives to work in specific areas. The Trust also opened a Book Shop in New Delhi and a Book Centre each at Hyderabad and Calcutta. The opening of more Book Centres is under active consideration, Besides the Trust is intensifying its publicity campaign. As a result of various measures taken it is expected that the sales performance during the current year will be better than that of 1977-78. Even during 1977-78 the value of the sales of Trust's publications was nearly Rs. 26 lakhs which was almost double that of the sales figures of 1973-74.
Scheme of Subsidised Publication of University Level Books in
English During 1978-79, till the end of December, 1978, the publication of 24 books has been subsidised, bringing the total number of books subsidised under the Scheme, to 259. About 40 more books are expected to be brought out under the Scheme during the remaining period of the current year.
The Scheme is being implemented in such a manner as to ensure that only such books which primarily meet the educational needs of the students are subsidised. The Scheme is also being so modified in, that priority is given to books in subject areas where there are gaps. It is also proposed to frame panels of experts to identify the subject areas where either there is an acute shortage of standard books or where books available are highly priced and are therefore beyond the reach of the average student.
Publication of Low-Priced Editions of University Level Books of
Foreign Origin With the objective of making available to our university students, low priced editions of standard university books and
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reference material of foreign origin, three programmes are being operated in collaboration with Governments of the UK (English Language Book Society Series, since 1960), the USA (Joint Indo-American Standard Works Programme, since 1961) and the USSR (Indo-Soviet Text- book Programme, since 1965). The books brought out under all the three programmes are approved by the Government of India in consultation with expert agencies such as UGC, the ICAR, the DGHS etc. Apart from their suitability, the books selected have to meet the test that comparable books by Indian authors are not available. Only the latest editions of the selected titles are taken up for publication under these programmes.
While under the UK and the USSR Programmes, the selected books are published in the respective countries and imported into and marketed in India through the normal trade channels, under the Indo- American Standard Works Programme, the selected books are published in India in low-priced editions by Indian publishers with a suitable subsidy from the USIS and marketed through the normal trade channels. The prices of the books reprinted under these programme, are 1/3rd to 1/5th of the original standard editions.
So far about 680 British, 1600 American and 320 Soviet titles have been brought out under these programmes.
Moves are also afoot to have consultations with the Governments of the GDR, FRG, Poland and Hungary for developing similar translation and publication programmes.
As part of the Indo-Soviet Text-book Programme, a scheme of award of scholarships is being implemented since 1970-71, in order to augment the facilities for translation of Russian university level books in various subject fields into English/ Indian languages for use of Indian students. Under this scheme, scholarships are annually awarded to about 5 Indian scholars in different disciplines to enable them to receive training in the USSR in translation techniques. So far, 27 Indian scholars have received the training. With the help of two of these scholars, 2 Soviet Technical books have been got translated into English which the Soviet authorities have agreed to suitably edit and publish in the USSR under the Indo-Soviet Programme. They are expected to be published shortly. Preliminary selection of Indian scholars have been made for the award of scholarships for 1978- 79.
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The Indo-Soviet Text-book Board was set up in 1965, with the Union Education Secretary as Chairman and five members each from the Soviet and Indian sides, to lay down the broad policy for the implementation of Indo-Soviet Programme and to monitor its progress. The Board held its tenth meeting at New Delhi in January, 1978.
Procurement of Translation Rights As part of their programmes to produce University-level books in Indian languages, the State Governments have been bringing out translations into Indian languages of suitable foreign books. To facilitate the work of obtaining translation rights from foreign copyright owners in regard to books selected by the State Governments and to provide co-ordination, the Copyright licences are negotiated centrally on behalf of the State Governments. During 1978-79, 17 contracts for translation rights were executed, bringing the total 1446 contracts with the American, British and other foreign publishers.
National Book Development Board The National Book Development Board was set up in 1967, and reconstituted in 1970, as an advisory body to lay down the guidelines for the development of the Indian book industry and trade in the context of the overall requirements of the country. The Board has not yet been reconstituted.
However, the implementation of the various recommendations made by the Board earlier, is being pursued.
IMPORT AND EXPORT OF BOOKS
Import policy for Books The Import Policy for all items is announced by the Department of Commerce every year. As far as the Import Policy for books, journals, magazines, children's literature and other teaching materials is concerned, the Policy is formulated in consultation with this Ministry.
During the year 1978-79, the Import Policy for books etc. was substantially rationalised and liberalised, and consi-
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derable simplification of the procedures was also effected. In keeping with the spirit of free flow of information and knowledge, import of Educational, Scientific and Technical books and journals, News-magazines and Newspapers was placed on the Open General Licence and all persons were allowed to import these items without the necessity of an import 'licence. This facility was subject to the condition that for importing more than 2000 copies of a single title, permission of this Ministry was required. Import of foreign edition of books for which the latest editions of Indian reprints are available were not allowed. These restrictions were imposed in the interest of the development of the indigenous book industry. Books, magazines and journals containing pornographic material or depicting sex, violence etc. were also not allowed for import.
Recognised educational, scientific, technical and research institutions etc., were allowed to import specified categories of teaching-aids under the Open General Licence.
In the previous year import licences were divided into several categories like basic quota, supplementary licence and additional supplementary licence and so were the importers e.g. established importers, newcomers and actual users. These distinctions were done away with and dealers in books whose purchase turn-over during 1977-78 was Rs. 3 lakhs or more were made eligible to apply for the grant of import licences on the basis of 10 per cent of their purchase turn- over. Import of books other than those covered by the Open General Licence, fiction, non-technical magazines, Children books and teaching aids were allowed for import under the import licences. The importers were free to import any of these categories of books without any percentage restriction as applicable previously. Recognised schools, colleges and libraries were also allowed to apply for the grant of import licence for the import of books not covered under the Open General Licence up to a value of Rs. 10.000 per year per institution. Such licences were valid for the import of the same type of books and other items as that set down for dealers under the licences.
The concession for the release of post parcels containing books, magazines and periodicals without the importers having to produce the import licence continued to be available during 1978-79.
The State Trading Corporation continued to assist the universities and other institutions of higher learning for
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arranging the import of scientific and technical journals required for their use.
Book Export Promotional Activities India as one of the leading publishing countries in the world, has a growing potential for exporting books not only to the established markets like the UK and the USA but to new markets in South East, West Asia and Africa.
During 1978-79, India participated in the Festival of Book and Book Fair, Singapore from 26th August-4th September, 1978, International Book Fair, Frankfurt from 18-23 October, 1978, and the International Book Fair held in Cairo in January/February 1979.
Books were sent for display in the Second Book Fair, Amman in April, 1978; Best Designed Books, Leipzig from 3-24 September, 1978; Commonwealth Book Fair, London from September to December, 1978; International Book Fair, Belgrade from 3-8 November, 1978; International Children's Book Exhibition, Ankara from 3-10 November, 1978; National Book Exhibition, Accra from 13-19 November, 1978.
Special Exhibitions of Indian books were organised with the assistance of Indian Missions abroad in Sri Lanka from 2-9 May, 1978; Thailand from 28-30 July, 1978; Kuala Lumpur from September 11-16, 1978; London from 25-30 October, 1978; Ankara 20-29 December, 1978. It is also proposed to organise special exhibitions in Kenya, Tanzania, Mauritius, Iraq and special exhibitions in Bangladesh during January-March, 1979.
With a view to promoting export of books and publications, the Ministry continued to obtain market survey reports through Indian Missions abroad which were circulated among the various publishers and book-sellers through their Federations. With a view to apprising foreign importers about the latest books published in India, the Federation of Publishers and Book-sellers' Association were assisted for bringing out a journal "Recent Indian Books".
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RAJA RAMMOHUN ROY NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES CENTRE The Centre continued to organise, exhibitions of university level books at different university centres, in order to bring to the notice of the university community the availability of university level books published in the country. During 1978-79, till December, 1978, the Centre organised one such exhibition, at the Madurai University. It proposes to organise another exhibition at Sambalpur University. The Centre also brings out periodically, annotated catalogue of Low-priced publications and Core Books. During 1978-79, the Centre brought out one combined issue (consisting of 4 numbers) of the Annotated Catalogue and proposes to bring out another issue during the remaining period.
The Centre arranges panel meetings of subject experts for evaluation on Indian authored university level books. The books considered suitable by the experts are brought to the notice of the universities, etc. so that they could increasingly use the indigenous books instead of imported books. The assessments of the books by subject experts are also brought to the notice of the publishers concerned so that they may improve the quality of their books on the basis of the reports of the subject experts. During 1978-79, till December 1978, the Centre has convened 5 panel meetings of subject experts which considered 58 books in English, Hindi and Tamil in different disciplines like Economics, History, Agriculture and Chemistry. Particulars of about 44 of these books, which were found to be standard, have been circulated to the universities, etc.
The Federation of Publishers and Book-sellers Associations in India compiled a National Catalogue of University-level Books covering the books published indigenously during 1965-70, with financial assistance from the Ministry of Education. The Centre is entrusted with the responsibility of keeping this Catalogue up,to-date by bringing out quarterly supplements. From 1971, so far, till December 1978, the Centre has brought out 31 supplements, and is engaged in bringing out a cumulative volume of all the supplements. One more supplement is expected to be compiled before the end of the year.
The Centre undertakes on or in anticipation of demand, com- pilation of bibliographies on topics of interest to authors and publishers of university level books. During the year 1978-79, the Centre brought out one issue, the fifth, of Annotated Guide to Periodical Literature on Book Industries.
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With the object of finding out the subject fields and titles of books which are being imported into the country in large quantities, so that measures could be taken to encourage Indian authorship and indigenous publishing for local production in those, fields or alternatively explore possibilities of getting those books reprinted in India, the Centre has, in the first instance, undertaken analysis of titles of which 200 or more copies were imported by 8 leading book importers. An interim report on the survey of such imports during 1975-76 was brought out in June 1977, which was taken up with UGC, NCERT, the publishers federations, etc. to explore possibilities of indigenous preparation of books on those subjects or alternatively negotiate for reprinting such books in India. The Centre has now completed the analysis of titles of which 200 or more copies were imported during 1976-77 by those same 8 large scale book importers and the report on the analysis is ready for similar follow up action.