BOOK PROMOTION
9.01. This chapter deals with the programmes of book pro-
motion which are operated by the Ministry of Education and Youth
Services and which received considerable attention and emphasis during
the year.
A.UNIVERSITY-LEVEL BOOKS IN INDIAN LANGUAGES
9.02. Production of University-Level Books in Indian
Languages:
Following the decision to adopt progressively the
Indian languages as media of instruction at the university level a
scheme to assist the production of university-level books was
initiated in 1968-69. The scheme envisages giving a grant UP to Rs. 1
crore spread over a period of six years to all States except the Union
Territories and the States of Jammu & Kashmir and Nagaland for
production of books in regional languages at the first degree level to
facilitate the early adoption of regional languages as media of
instruction in as many disciplines as possible. The original pattern
of assistance-75 per cent by the Centre and 25 per cent by the State
Government concerned on the expenditure incurred-has been changed.
With effect from 1969-70, the entire expenditure will be borne by the
Union Government. On the basis of schemes formulated by the State
Governments in accordance with the guidelines circulated to them by
the Ministry, grants totalling Rs. 34,47,828 were released during
1968-69, to the State Governments of Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh,
Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pardesh, Madras, Mysore, Kerala, West
Bengal, Assam and Maharashtra. During 1969-70, all the State
Governments with the exception of Haryana and Andhra Pradesh, have
been advised that they
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could straightway incur further expenditure up to Rs. 7 lakh each.
Haryana and Andhra Pradesh asked for Rs. 2 lakh and Rs. 28 lakh
respectively which have been sanctioned.
9.03. Coordination of Book-Production Programmes of Hindi-
Speaking States:
To coordinate the programmes of five Hindispeaking
States and to avoid duplication, a Conference of Representatives of
Hindi-speaking States for Production of University-Level Books in
Hindi has been set up. Presided over by the Union Education Minister,
the functions of the Conference are to review generally the progress
of book production in all the Hindi-speaking States and to advise the
Government on all concerned matters. The Coordination Committee of
the Conference is presided over by the Union State Minister for
Education. The Coordination Committee, has constituted a Core
Committee for matters of detail including approving topics for
original writing, distribution of books for translation among the
States and to advise on work assigned to be carried out by the central
agency. During the period under review, the Conference met once, the
Coordination Committee thrice and the Core Committee five times. The
secretariat of the three bodies is located at the Commission for
Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT). Brief details of the
work done in this behalf are given in a later sub-section along with a
description of the other activities of the CSTT.
9.04. National Programme of Core Books:
It has been
decided that in addition to the book-production programme at the State
level, a national programme of core books should No taken up at the
Central level. The core books are to be written by eminent writers
available in different subject-fields in India. If a core book is
originally written in a regional language, it will first be translated
and published in English by the Union Government to enable its
translation in other regional languages. In short, core books would
be, a series of books of such standard and quality that, generally
speaking, all universities will accept them as textbooks or reference
literature.
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9.05. Award of Fellowships to Translators of Standard Works:
For original writing as well as for translating English works
into Indian languages, it is considered necessary to organise a cadre
of writers/translators of books at the university level. Accordingly,
a scheme to award 100 fellowships each year for a period of five years
to postgraduate scholars and university teachers has been worked out.
Each fellowship will carry an award of Rs. 500 p.m. in addition to an
annual contingency grant of Rs. 2,000. This scheme will be
administered by the University Grants Commission.
9.06. Taraqqui-e-Urdu Board:
As Urdu is an important non
State language spoken by a cross-section of the people of India, a
conference of Education Ministers of the concerned States, Vice-
Chancellars and heads of Urdu departments of concerned universities
was convened on 23rd April, 1969 at New Delhi to consider the question
of production of university-level books in Urdu under the Centrally-
sponsored scheme of production oil literature in Indian languages. In
pursuance of the recommendations of this Conference the Government has
set up a Central Board called Taraqqui-e-Urdu Board for the production
of literature, in Urdu. Books in Urdu have been categorised under
four heads, viz., (i) academic, (ii) popular science, (iii) children's
literature, and (iv) reference books, etc. The CSTT also functions as
the secretariat of the Board.
B. COLLABORATION SCHEMES FOR UNIVERSITY-LEVEL BOOKS
9.07. One of the major problems facing university education
in India has been the non-availability of reasonably priced quality
books in various fields both for use as textbooks and for purposes of
reference. To meet this problem, three programmes in collaboration
with the Governments of the U.K., U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R., have been
in operation over the past few years. An account of these as well as
of the supplementary Indian programmes is given below:
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9.08. The Indo-British Programme (The English Language Books
Society Series):
Initiated in 1960, books are brought out in what
is known as the English Language Books Society series (ELBS Series).
The titles are selected/approved by the Ministry with the help of
experts and expert organisations and are screened by an advisory
committee in the United Kingdom. They are published in the U.K., in
paperback editions, at approximately one-third of the price of their
original edition and imported into India through the normal trade
channels. Over 220 titles have been brought out under this programme
so far. The programme which is financed entirely by the U.K.
Government will continue during 1970-71.
9.09. The Indo-American Programmes:
A Joint Indo American
Board, consisting of 14 members with the Union Education Secretary as
chairman was set up to advise on policy matters relating to the
programme instituted in 1961 for the republication in India of
standard American books. The books included under the programme are
approved by the Government of India and are republished in India with
a suitable subsidy given by the USA authorities out of the PL 480
American Uses Rupee Funds. The Indian reprint edition is priced at
approximately one-fifth of the original American price. Over 800
titles have so far been published under this programme and 500 more
are under publication. The USA Government recently provided an
additional amount of two million dollars for accelerating the
programme which has been enlarged to include the publication of
selected American titles in regional languages. The programme will
continue during 1970-71.
9.10. The Joint Indo-Soviet Programme:
A Joint IndoSoviet
Board with five Indian and five Soviet members, with the Union
Education Secretary as chairman, was constituted in 1965 to operate
programmes of translation, adaption and publication for India of
standard Russian educational works. The Russian books for use in India
are selected/approved by the Ministry with the help of expert bodies
but are translated and published in the USSR itself and imported into
India through
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normal trade channels. Out of the approved titles the Soviet side has
intimated the availability of copies of some 152 titles. The Board
also proposed to bring, within the scope, of the Programme,
publication of books ion science written by top Soviet academicians
for the, Soviet secondary schools, for the use of Indian school
students, educational films and other teaching aids in addition to
textbooks and Russian manuals and other reading materials for the
training of artisans and craftsmen. At the last meeting of the Board
it was agreed that in the light of the decision to change over to the
regional languages as media of instruction at the university level,
arrangements will be made to train a selected number of Indian
graduates, preferably from USSR universities, in translation
techniques at Soviet institutes and publishing houses. A selected
team of Russian experts will also visit India for organising training
courses in translation techniques for Indian Students at the Institute
of Russian Studies. The possibility of obtaining a language
laboratory as a gift from Russia has also been under examination.
9.11. Translation of American and British Standard
University-Level Books into Indian Languages:
To assist the pro
programme of adopting Indian languages as media of instruction at the
university stage, the Ministry has been making concerted efforts to
obtain translation licences for American and British textbooks
required for the use of university students in India. Negotiations
have been going on with the American and British publishers regarding
the terms of translation rights for their titles into Indian
languages. The translations will be brought out by the State
Governments concerned in consultation with the universities in their
areas. The arrangement for publication of the translation is also to
be decided by the State Governments. The Central Government will sub-
license the translation rights to the actual publisher to be nominated
by the State concerned. About 2000 British and 700 American titles
were selected for translation into Indian languages, subject to the
rights being available.
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C. BOOK PRODUCTION PROGRAMMES OF THE CSTT
9.12. Collaborative Book-Production Programme of Hindi-
Speaking States:
As mentioned earlier, the Commission for
Scientific and Technical Terminology, New Delhi, is serving as the
secretariat of the Conference of Representatives of Hindi speaking
States for Production of University-Level Books in Hindi as well as
for its Co-ordination Committee and Core Committee. In the meetings
held during the year a number of recommendations were made by these,
bodies on the basis of which coordinated programmes have been taken in
hand. Twentyfive subject panels were constituted during the last
year. The panels suggested a total programme of 396 books for
original writing and 2,062 books for translation. These panels found
812 existing Hindi books of sufficient standard. During the period
under review, meetings of six new panels in military science,
veterinary science, home science, library science, journalism and
printing and social work were held and these recommended an additional
programme of 43 books for original writing and 389 books for
translation. These panels considered 26 existing Hindi books of
sufficient standard. The panels in engineering and agriculture were
also revised and in all eight panels in engineering subjects and
thirteen panels in agricultural sciences have been constituted. New
panels have also been constituted in public administration and ancient
history. Books have been allocated to various States as follows:
Science Humanities Total
Bihar 23 82 105
Haryana 42 73 115
Rajasthan 45 49 94
Madhya Pradesh 214 216 430
Uttar Pradesh 122 137 259
TOTAL 446 557 1003
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Autonomous bodies have been constituted in all the States except in
Bihar where a wing of the Bihar State University Commission looks
after the programme. It was emphasized during the last meeting of the
Coordination Committee that all these autonomous bodies should be
informally called "Hindi Granth Akademis."
9.13. Programme of Book Production in Urdu:
As mentioned
earlier, the CSTT also, serves as the secretariat of the Taraqqui-e-
Urdu Board. The first meeting of the Board was held on July 31, 1969.
The meetings of 23 subject panels constituted by the Board were held
between 25th August and 10th September, 1969. The panels recommended
about 500 titles for translation and original writing and 176 titles
were allotted during the period under review. Thirty out-of-print
basic texts were taken up for reprinting. 41 titles produced by the
Children's Book Trust and 61 titles of the NCERT are proposed to
be brought out in Urdu.
9.14. Standard Work Scheme:
For the last few years, the
CSTT has been implementing the scheme of Production of Standard Works
of University Level in Hindi and Regional Languages. So far 181 books
have already been published out of which 159 are in Hindi and 22 in
regional languages. Twentytwo books are in press and 13 books are
ready for press. Fresh allotment of titles for translation or
original writing under this scheme has, however, been discontinued in
view of the larger collaborative book-production programme mentioned
earlier. Out of the five whole-time cells working under the
Commission, those at Bhopal and Ranchi have been closed, and the cell
in Rajasthan is sought to be transferred to the Rajasthan State
Government to complete the residual work assigned by the Commission.
The cells at Banaras Hindu University and Delhi University will,
however, continue to function under the Commission. It has also been
decided to transfer the translating agencies situated in the Hindi-
speaking States to the care of the respective Sate Governments for
completing their residual work. Agencies for the production of Hindi
books located in non-Hindi speaking areas
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(Calcutta University, Panjab University, V.V.R.I., Hoshiarpur and
Nagpur University) will, however, continue with the Commission till
their present assignments are complete.
9.15. Publishers Collaboration Scheme:
This scheme is
operated by the Commission as a subsidiary scheme under which
Government's liability is limited to the purchase of 1,000 copies of
an approved title out of a print run of 3000, at 25 per cent discount.
49 titles were approved out of which 19 titles have been published.
Fresh assignments have, however, been stopped in view of the
collaboration programme.
9.16. Book Exhibitions:
The Commission has been organising
exhibition of university-level books in general and the Commission's
publications in particular, as an essential part of its programme.
The exhibitions are organised generally at the venues of the
terminological seminars, important meetings concerned with the book-
production programmes and other educational conferences throughout the
country. The purpose is to present a subject-wise and language-wise
visual survey of the existing university-level literature, to identify
gaps, to acquaint students and teachers with the latest books in
Indian languages and to foster book-mindedness in the public in
general. During the period, nine such exhibitions were held at
various places like New Delhi, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Bombay
and Calcutta till the end of December 1969. Eight more were due to be
held at places like Indore, Ujjain, Delhi University, I.I.T.
Kharagpur, New Delhi, Lucknow and Bhopal.
D.UNIVERSITY-LEVEL BOOKS BY INDIAN AUTHORS
9.17. To ensure that good Indian textbooks in English are not
forced out of the market by competition from subsidised foreign books,
a scheme has been formulated for subsidising the publication of
selected Indian works so as to make them economically competitive with
the foreign textbooks and also to bringdown their price to a level
which the Indian students can afford. The scheme has been entrusted
to the National Book Trust for operation.
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E. SCHOOL TEXT-BOOKS AND CHILDREN'S BOOKS
9.18. Almost all the State Governments have nationalised the
production of school textbooks, although in varying degrees. To
coordinate and guide the activities of the organisations engaged in
this sphere at the national and State levels, a National Board of
School Textbooks was set up during 1968-69. The National Board met
for the first time in April 1969. Its recommendations included the
orientation of courses for writers of textbooks and textbook
illustrators as well as for the utilisation of the textual material
prepared by the NCERT. Action is being taken to implement the various
recommendations. A conference on textbook production was organised on
January 15-16, 1970 under the auspices of NCERT in New Delhi.
9.19. Three textbook printing presses have been gifted by the
Government of the Federal Republic of Germany. These are to be
located at Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar and Mysore. At Chandigarh, an
existing building will be used with suitable modifications to house
the press. The machinery has already been ordered and is expected to
arrive by the end of 1970. The buildings for the presses at Myore and
Bhubaneswar are in the process of being constructed. The three
presses will be used as regional presses under the control of the
Union Government and will be available for printing school textbooks
of the States in the region as well as of the Union Territories. A
complete press for the Bihar Textbook Corporation has been ordered
from the German Democratic Republic. The agreement includes facility
of deferred payment and training of the staff in Germany.
9.20. Nehru Bal Pustakalaya :
A scheme for the mass
production of cheap books as supplementary reading material for
children known as Nehru Bal Pustakalaya, was initiated in 1968-69.
Under this scheme about 100 books on various titles mainly relating to
national integration will be produced in all the major Indian
languages. At least 1,00,000 copies will be produced under each
title. The books will be priced at Rs. 1.50
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each and the State Governments will be given a rebate of 50% for bulk
purchase. About 10 books are expected to be released during the
current year. The books are produced with the assistance of the
National Book Trust. The expenditure during the year under report was
of the order of Rs. 5 lakh. Rs. 8 lakh are expected to be spent
during 1970-71.
9.21. National Prize Competition of Children's Literature:
The 15th competition was organised during the year. This scheme
has two facets, namely, (a) competitions in Hindi, Sindhi and Urdu
languages which are handled by the Ministry, and (b) competitions in
regional languages which are organised by the participating States
on behalf of the Ministry on a 100% reimbursement basis.
F. NATIONAL BOOK TRUST
9.22. The National Book Trust, India, was set up in 1957 as
an autonomous Organisation with the broad objective of producing and
encouraging the production of good literature, making such literature
available at moderate prices and fostering bookmindedness among the
public. Its normal programme for the year included the bringing out
of about 101 titles, of which 60 titles were released till the end of
February, 1970. A large number of translations into Indian languages
of books originally published in English were also brought out. To
mark the QuinCentenary of Guru Nanak, the Trust completed its project
of producing Dr. Gopal Singh's biography of 'Guru Nanak' in all Indian
languages. The Trust also brought out a number of books on Mahatma
Gandhi. Other activities of the Trust during the year related mainly
to the holding of the Third National Book Fair, the observing of a
Book Week, participating in international exhibitions, the organising
of workshops, etc., a brief account of which is given below:
(a) Third National Book Fair:
To foster book-mindedness.
the 3rd National Book Fair was organised by the Trust in Bombay from
16th November to 4th December 1969. About
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outstanding books published in all the important Indian languages
since January 1967 were displayed. Almost all the important
publishers of the country participated in the Fair. In an auditorium
in the Fair campus, seminars, symposia and cultural programmes were
organised on this occasion.
(b) Book Week:
During the period of the Book Fair the
Trust organised the celebration of a Book Week throughout the country
from 14th November to 20th November, 1969. The Federation of
Publishers and Booksellers Association in India allowed 10% discount
on books purchased during the week. The entire net-work of All India
Radio organised special programmes relating to writing, publishing and
the distribution of books. The Department of Posts and Telegraphs
arranged cancellation of stamps with the slogan "Make Book Your
Companion" during the period of the Fair from all the important towns
of the country. The Fair was also given extensive coverage by the
Indian language press, radio and television.
(c) Participation in International Exhibitions:
To
project Indian publishing activity, the Trust sent 3000 outstanding
books published in India for exhibition in 'India Sales Week'
celebration organised by the Indian Mission at Hong Kong. The Trust
participated in the International Book Fair at Frankfurt in October,
1969 when it displayed 300 outstanding books published in the country
covering also the publications of publishers other than the Trust.
(d) Workshop for Translators:
The Trust organised a
workshop for translators in Kannada in Bangalore on May 24-31, 1969.
20 writers participated in it. Apart from lectures, on various
aspects of translation, the participants were given practical
exercises in the art of translation.
(e) New Projects :
Reference has already been made to,
the scheme of Nehru Bal Pustakalaya. Under another project called
Aadan Pradan, it is proposed to publish up to ten out- standing books
in each language in the Eighth Schedule of the
105
Constitution translated into every other language with a view to
spreading knowIdge of the literary achievements in our languages. A
number of titles under both the projects have been envisaged and are
likely to come out during the current and next financial year.
G: OTHER PROGRAMMES
9.23. National Book Development Board:
The Union
Government set up in February 1967 a National Book Development Board
to lay down the guidelines for the development of book industry in the
context of the overall requirements of the country and advise on all
problems of book development. The Board has so far held four
meetings. It has made a number of recommendations which are under
consideration of the Union and State Governments. Among the Board's
recommendations, mention may be made of a survey for collecting
necessary data about the present state of the publishing industry, its
economy and other aspects, the setting up of Book Information Centres
at the Centre and States to collate data on industry in cooperation
with local language publishers. These recommendations have been under
consideration. The Board has set up a working group to study all
aspects of the export of Indian books including the setting up a Book
Promotion Council and to suggest measures necessary for promoting
export of books. The Union Government is exploring the possibility of
setting up a training institute for publishing and book-selling in
cooperation with the industry so that adequate personnel is
available to implement the book development plans for the country.
With effect from the assessment year 1970-71, a rebate of 20% in calc-
lating the total taxable income of any person's earnings on the
business of printing and publishing of books in India has been
proposed and is under the consideration of a Select Committee of
Parliament.
9.24. Survey of Printing and Publication Facilities in India:
Shri U.S. Mohan Rao, retired Director of Publications Division,
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, has been entrusted with a
project to prepare and submit a report after a survey of
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the printing and publication facilities now available in India for
scientific and technical books and on the establishment of a science
printing press in India.
9.25. Financial Allocations:
The financial allocations for
major programmes described in this chapter for 1969-70 and 1970-71 are
given below :
(Rs. in lakhs)
Sl. Item Provision for Budget
No. 1969-70 Estimtes
for
Original Revised 1970-71
1 Production of University-Level Books
in Indian Languages 150.00 60.00 85.00
2 National Programme of Core Books .. 5.00 15.00
3 Award of Fellowships for Translators .. .. 10.00
4 Taraqqui-e-Urdu Board .. 7.00 15.00
5 Cheap Re-publication of Text-
books-Honoraria, Meetings and
Other Grants 4.55 4.30 11.55
6 Programme of Book Production
through CSTT .. 3.00 25.00
7 Standard Work Scheme, Pub-
lishers Collaboration Scheme and
other Programme of CSTT 10.10 10.10 1.27
8 Textbook Printing Presses 30.00 30.00 72.61
9 Nehru Bal Pustakalaya 5.00 3.00 8.00
10 National Book Trust 13.60 10.89 14.26
11 Aadan Pradan .. .. 1.00
12 National Book Development Board 1.85 0.95 4.00