BOOK PROMOTION AND COPYRIGHT
11.1.0 Books are vital for a country's scientific, technological and economic development and also play an essential role in giving a common purpose and identity to people with diverse socio-cultural, linguistic and religious background. The Book Promotion Division of the Department of Education has a number of schemes and activities which aim inter alia, at promoting the production of good quality books at reasonable prices, encouraging indigenous authorship, promoting the reading habit and providing assistance to the Indian book industry. Some of the important programmes being implemented in this regard are briefly described in the following paragraphs.
I.National Book Trust 11.2.1 The National Book Trust, India, (NBT) an autonomous Organisation, was set up in 1957 with the objectives of producing and encouraging production of good reading material at moderate price and fostering book mindedness among the people. The activities of the NBT broadly are to publish books; provide assistance to authors, illustrators and publishers; and to promote books. The NBT publishes books for general readers; on a variety of subjects, in Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu at affordable price. Over 7200 titles in different languages have been published by the NBT, so far. The Trust also provides financial assistance to authors, illustrators for bringing out reasonably Priced text books and reference books for the diploma, undergraduate and post-graduate levels; and also for publication of books for children and neoliterates. It also promotes books and cultivates the book reading habit all over the country by (a) organising book fairs, festivals and exhibitions; (b) holding seminars, symposia and work-shops; (c) providing financial assistance for organising books fairs and exhibitions; (d) sponsoring celebration of National Book Week; and (e) setting up of Readers Club in Schools. It also promotes Indian Books abroad by organising India's participation in International Book fairs in different countries.
(a) Publishing 11.2.2 The National Book Trust provides general reading material for all segments of society and for all age-groups Moderately priced books of fiction and nonfiction on a variety of topics in English, Hindi and 11 other major Indian languages are brought out under the Trust's well-defined series. In addition, on an experimental basis some titles of the Nehru Bal Pustakalaya series for children are also being translated into the tribal languages of the North-East, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.
11.2.3 During 1993-94, 588 titles were brought out which included 297 originals, revised editions and translations and 291 reprints. The total number of titles published this year is also likely to Exceed 700.
11.2.4 Total net sales of NBT publications during 1993-94 amounted to Rs. 186 lakhs. This year it is expected to see around Rs.2 Crore.
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(b) Assistance to Authors and Publishers Details of activities undertaken during the year are as follows:
11.2.5 The Trust, through, its Scheme for the Subsidised Publication of Books, provides financial assistance to authors and publishers for bringing out reasonably priced books, which could serve as textbooks, discipline oriented supplementary reading material reference books, for students and teachers of Indian universities and technical institute.
11.2.6 Under the scheme, the subsidised books relate to subject areas where books of an acceptable standard are either not available or are so highly priced as to be beyond the means of the students, and could be in English, Hindi or any other languages listed in the 8th schedule of the Constitution. The scheme was revised in August, 1992 with the objective of making it more practicable by simplifying the procedures. After its revision the Indian Language publishers had shown more interest in this scheme including three universities bringing out books in Tamil. There is now a steady increase in the number of titles being published under the Scheme. Against ten titles published in 1992-93, 14 were brought out in 1993 and 16 are excepted during the current financial year.
World Book Fair 11.2.7 The New Delhi World Book Fair organised by the Trust every alternate year since 1972 is the largest book exhibition in Asia. The 11th New Delhi World Book Fair was held in Feb., 1994 and 984 publishers participated in it. For the first time, Africa was the theme of the fair. The next World Book Fair would be organised by the Trust in Feb., 1996.
(c) Book Promotion 11.2.8 The book promotion activities of the National Book Trust include Organisation of book fairs, book festivals, workshops, seminars and symposia on related topics, celebration of National Book Week, etc. During the year the trust organised book fairs each of at Jallandhar from 10th to 18th Sept., 1994 at Nagpur from 30th Sept., to 9th Oct., 1994 and at Goa from Dec. 31st to January 8,1995.
11.2.9 In addition, under its new scheme for promoting books in Indian languages, the trust organised 9 exhibitions of select Hindi publications in Kumaon and Garhwal (UP) and 39 exhibitions of select childrens books in Delhi.The Trust has decided to hold six more exhibitions in Bombay in Jan., 1995 and nine in Madras in Feb., 1995. Two seminars at Nagpur one on Post Literacy reading Material for Neo- literate Women and the other on the text and Illustrations for popular Science Books were organised.
11.2.10 The trust has also decided to organise two another seminars in Jan., 95. As usual the Trust celebrated the National Book Week from 14th Nov.,to 20th Nov., 1994 all over the country.
11.2.11 For organising book promotional activities abroad the Trust participated in Bologna International children's Book Fair from 7th April to 10th April, 94 and
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Australian Book Fair from 22nd to 26th June, 94 and Frankfurt Book fair from 5th to 10th Sept., 1994. It is planning to exhibit Indian books in Nepal and South Africa in Feb-March, 1995.
II Book Promotional Activities and Financial Assistance to
Voluntary Organisations 11.3.0 Under the Scheme of Book Promotional Activities and Financial Assistance to voluntary organisations, grants are given on ad-hoc basis to voluntary organisations for organising training courses, seminars, workshops conventions, etc. During this Year a grant of Rs. 1.00 lakh has been released to Authors Guild of India for organising National Symposium on `Oneness of Literature of Indian languages'. A sum of Rs. 92.000/- is being released to federations of Indian Publishers and Rs. 2.12 lakhs are being kept for Netaji Subhash Research Bureau. In addition, applications for the release of grant of Rs.96,000/- are under consideration.
III National Book Development Council 11.4.0 The term of the NBDC which was constituted in 1967 expired on Nov., 1993 and it is being reconstituted as `National Book Promotion Council' which would function as an advisory body to facilitate exchange of views on all major aspects of Book Promotion.
Export & Import Policy for Books 11.5.0 Ministry of Commerce had announced new Export & Import Policy for a period of 5years w.e.f. 1st April, 1992. Under this any organisation/individual is free to import books on educational, scientific & Technical subjects without any restrictions. Import of other books is allowed only against licence.
Raja Rammohan Roy National Library 11.6.0 The International Standard Book Numbering (ISBN) System aims at boosting the export of indigenous publications and to minimise the book trade practices in day today business. It is an international system by which a distinct identifying number is assigned to each book. In addition to book trade, the system is very helpful to libraries and information systems and to research scholars. From 1st Jan., 1985 to 31st October, 1994, 2545 big and small publishers and others have become the members of the System and thousand of the publications today bear the ISBN Numbers.
Copyright 11.7.1 The Copyright Office was established in January, 1958 in pursuance of Section 9 of the Copyright Act, 1957. The Office, under the provisions of the Copyright Act, 1957 as amended from time to time undertakes to register different classes of works. From 1st April, 94 to 24th Nov., 1994, 524 works have been registered. The category- wise break-up of the registered works is as under:-
(a) Literary, dramatic & musical works 343
(b) Artistic works 142
(c) Records 34
(d) Cinematograph films 5
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11.7.2 In addition to this, the Copyright Office also registers the changes in the Register of Copyright in accordance with Section 49 of the Copyright Act, 1957 and Rule 17 of the Copyright Rules, 1958. Copyright Office also issues certified copies of extract from the Registrar of Copyright as also of the public documents in the custody of the registrar of Copyright/ Copyright Board. Inspection of the register of Copyright is also open to the interested persons.
11.7.3 The Copyright Board, a quasi-judicial body, was constituted initially in Sept., 1958. The Jurisdiction of the Copyright Board extends to the whole of India. It adjudicates disputes in respect of assignment of copyright and granting of licenses-
- in works withheld from public
- in unpublished Indian works
- to produce and publish translation
- to produce and publish works for certain purposes.
11.7.4 It also hears cases in other miscellaneous matters instituted before it under the Copyright Act, 1957. The meetings of the Board are held in different zones of the country to provide facility of justice to authors, creators and owners of intellectual property near their place of residence or occupation.
11.7.5 The Copyright Board was last reconstituted for a period of four years upto 31st March, 1994. A new Board is yet to be reconstituted as on date.
Enforcement of Copyright 11.8.1 The fifth meeting of Copyright Enforcement Advisory Council which was set up on 6-11-91 for strengthening and streamlining the enforcement of copyright in the country and to educate the public and enforcement authorities was held on 28th February'94 in New Delhi. The following decisions were taken at the meeting:-
- The Draft Brochure on Copyright Enforcement prepared by the FIP was considered and it was decided that it should be revised in accordance with the suggestions of the members:
- Special Cells should be set up in the States to deal with Copyright matters; and
- Home Secretaries/Deputy Inspector-General of Police in the States should be invited to participate in the Seminar on enforcement of copyright to be held in collaboration with World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).
11.8.2 The Draft Copyright Brochure was revised and has already been printed. State Governments have already been requested at HRM's level to set up Special Cells. Home Secretaries and DIGs of Police from State Governments were invited to participate in the Seminar on Enforcement of Copyright. The details of which are given under the heading `Training Facilities in Copyrights'.
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Amendment of Copyright Act 11.8.3 The Copyright (Second Amendment) Bill which was introduced in July'92 was passed by the parliament in May '94 and came into effect as Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1994 on 9th June, 1994 when it received the assent of the President on 9th June, 1994. Comprehensive amendments to the Copyright Act have been made vide this amending Act. The amendments include introduction of performers' rights, rental rights and provision of more stringent punishment for infringement of copyright. The amendments have, however, not yet come into force. They will be brought into force as soon as Statutory Rules required for enforcing some of the provision are ready. Draft Rules are already under reference to Ministry of La", for vetting.
Training Facilities in Copyright 11.9.1 The WIPO under its cooperation Development Programme, Organised training courses in Copyright for officials dealing with copyright in developing countries. Sh. Jagdish Swaroop, Special Officer (Copyright), Department of Education Participated in the Orientation Seminar on Copyright & Neighboring Right held in Geneva from 12-14th October 94 followed by a practical training in Budapest, Hungary from 17-28th October 1994.
11.9.2 A Training Seminar on Enforcement of Copyright was organised by the Ministry in collaboration with WIPO on November 11-12, 1994 in New Delhi in which Home Secretaries, Senior Police Officers from various States/UTs participated. There were 52 participants including foreign experts.
International Copyright 11.10.1 India is a member of two major International Conventions on Copyright,namely the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and the Universal Copyright Convention. Both these conventions were revised in 1971 to incorporate special provisions to enable the Developing countries to issue compulsory licences for reproduction and translation to books of foreign origin for specific purposes in case these rights could not be obtained by freely negotiated terms from the owners of copyright. India has acceded to 1971 Texts of these Conventions.
11.10.2 India plays an important role in the deliberations of the Governing Bodies of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Geneva which is the International Secretariat for the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic works. This Year Additional Secretary, Department of Education attended the 25th Series of the meetings of the Governing bodies of WIPO at Geneva from 24th Sept. to 5th Oct. 1994.
International Copyright Order 11.11.0 Under Section 40 of the Indian Copyright Act,1957(14 of 1957), the Central Government is empowered to extended Copyright to foreign works. An Order-International Copyright order.1958 issued in this regard, vide SRO-271 dated 21st January, 1958 was revised and published in the official Gazette on 30th September,1991. The revised order has been amended vide Notification No. SO 768 (E) dated 9.10.92 published in the Gazette of India on 13th Oct., 1992. Further amendment of the Order is under consideration.
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