BOOK PROMOTION AND COPYRIGHTS
Books are an essential tool of education. The steps taken by the Ministry
for book promotion are related to producing good literature at moderate
prices, encouraging writers and popularising the reading habit. Some of
the important programmes undertaken in this regard are briefly described
in the following. paragraphs.
NATIONAL BOOK TRUST
The National Book Trust was set up in 1957 as an autonomous organi-
sation with the objective, of producing and encouraging production of good
reading material at moderate prices, and fostering bookmindedness among
the people. In furtherance of these objectives, the Trust has been pro-
ducing good books, in -Indian languages and English, in well conceived
series as well as organising and participating in book fairs (both at home
and abroad), exhibitions, seminars, symposia, etc. Furthermore, the Trust
operates a scheme of Subsidised Publication of University-level Books in
English by Indian authors with a view to making them available to the
students at low prices.
Publishing Programmes Some of the important series under which the. Trust publishes books are:
India-The Land and the People, National Biography, Young India Library,
Folklore of India, Popular Science and World of Today. Since its incep-
tion and up to March 1981, the Trust had brought out 1043 titles (331
in English and 712 in Indian languages) under these series. During 1981-
82, the Trust proposes to bring out 48 titles, of which 15 titles were published
by the end of November, 1981.
Besides the above series, the Trust has two major publishing programmes
for promotion of national integration, namely, Aadan Pradan anand Nehru Bal
Pustkalaya. Under its Aadan Pradan series, the Trust has so far brought
out 531 titles in various Indian languages, of which 16 titles were published
during April-November, 1981; 18 more titles are proposed to be brought
out by March, 1982. Under the Nehru Bal Pustkalaya series, 740 titles have
been brought out so far, of which 34 titles have been published during
April-November, 1981 and 28 more titles are expected to be published by
March, 1982.
A special publication on the Asian Games is also to be brought out in
time for the Asian Games in Delhi.
Rural Publishing In pursuance of its scheme of publication of reading material for the
rural areas (launched in 1980), the Trust's second pilot project was under-
taken in July, 1981 in the Puri District in cooperation with the State Govern-
ment of Orissa. This included an on-the-spot survey leading to identification
of topics for reading material for the rural people of the area, and a work-
shop at Kantilo, Khandapada block, for writers, illustrators and instructors
for discussing and finalising the manuscripts and illustrations. The manus-
cripts that were prepared will be published in the from of booklets by the
Trust.
As a result of the first project undertaken by the Trust in Gujarat in
July 1980, the Trust has taken up the production of seven publications cons-
tituting suitable reading material for the rural people. These will be releas-
ed during this year.
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Subsidised Publication of The broad objective of the Scheme which the Trust has been implement-
University-level Books ing since 1970 is to make available to university and college students stand-
ard books at reasonable prices. The total number of books subsidised by the
Trust since the inception of the scheme (till March, 1981) is 385.23 books
were subsidised during April-November, 1981.
Book Fairs The Trust has also been organising book fairs at national and regional
levels. The Trust has so far organised ten National Book Fairs in impor-
tant metropolitan cities of India and about 95 regional book exhibitions.
During 1980-81, the Trust embarked on a programme of organising book
festivals on a regional basis. Two festivals were held up to March, 1981
and a third festival was held at Cochin (Kerala) during April-May, 1981.
A seminar on rural publishing in Malayalam was also organised at Cochin
on this occasion.
World Book Fairs The National Book Trust organises a World Book Fair in New Delhi
once every two years, to foster book-mindedness and to promote the export
of books including periodicals and journals. So far, four World Book Fairs'
have been organised.
The Fifth Book Fair was held in New Delhi from February 5-15,
1982, in which over 420 Indian publishers and over 50 overseas publishers
from 22 countries, participated. The Fair was inaugurated by the
Prime Minister, Smt. Indira Gandhi on February 4. 1982. A number of
seminars, workshops, symposia and conventions were organised during the
Fair. These included an International Seminar on "Books for All at
Low Cost".
The Trust will celebrate its silver jubilee in 1982. A comprehensive
programme of publishing, publicity and promotion has been chalked out
for 1982 to mark the occasion. The programmes include the publication of
a history of printing and publishing in India, a handbook of Indian literature
and observance of a National Book Week.
PUBLICATION OF LOW PRICED UNIVERSITY LEVEL BOOKS
AND PUBLICATION OF FOREIGN, BOOKS
In order to make low priced editions of standard university books and
reference material of foreign origin available to the Indian University stu-
dents, the Ministry has been operating three programmes in collaboration
with the Government of the U.K. (English Language Book Society Series,
since 1960), the U.S.A. (joint Indo-American Standard Works Programme,
since 1961) and the U.S.S.R. (Joint Indo-Soviet Textbook Programme, since
1965). Latest editions of books are considered for coverage under these
programmes and are assessed by appropriate expert agencies and experts
from the standpoint of their suitability to Indian students and non-availa-
bility of comparable books by Indian authors. So far about 715 British,
1620 American and 395 Soviet books have been published under these
programmes.
A proposal is under consideration to develop a similar Indo-GDR pro-
gramme for translation and low-priced publication of university-level books
and teaching aids and materials, especially in the fields of natural sciences
and technology. in this connection, a two-member GDR delegation visited
New Delhi from November 10-18, 1981, for discussions.
Procurement of Translation As part of their programmes to produce university-level books in Indian
Rights languages, the State Governments have been bringing out translations of
suitable foreign books into Indian languages. To facilitate and coordinate
the work of obtaining translation rights from foreign copyright owners in
regard to books selected by the State Governments, the copyright licences
are negotiated centrally on behalf or State Governments. So far, 1,461
contracts for translation rights have been executed with American, British
and other foreign publishers.
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Book Development To promote book development, the Ministry keeps in constant touch
with professional associations of authors, publishers and organisations con-
cerned with book industry. This Ministry has been giving a substantial
amount every year to the Authors' Guild of India to convene its national
conventions. Similarly, the India International Centre has been organising,
with financial assistance from the Ministry, workshops for the encouragement
of writers, specially young writers and editors. A workshop for Afro-Asian
writers on "Short Story Writing" is being organised by the India Inter-
national Centre with assistance from the Ministry in March, 1982. Assist-
ance is also given to the Federations of Publishers for holding workshops
and seminars and training courses for the book industry personnel,
A three-member Soviet delegation of writers visited India from Decem-
ber 14-28, 1981 under the Indo-Soviet Cultural Exchange. Programme.
They had creative meetings and exchanged ideas with a large number of
authors, editors, translators, publishers and their professional organisations.
IMPORT AND EXPORT OF BOOKS
Import Policy of Books During 1981-82, the liberalised Import Policy was continued and import
1981-82 of educational, scientific and technical books and journals, news magazines
and newspapers and records for learning of languages was allowed under
Open General Licence. This facility was subject to the grant of permission
by this Ministry in cases where more than 1000 copies of a single title were
proposed to be imported. The import of foreign editions of books for which
editions of Indian reprints are available was-not allowed.
Dealers in books with a purchase turnover of Rs. 3 lakhs or more, were
eligible to apply for import licences on the basis of 10% of their purchase
turnover for the import of books other than those covered by OGL. In
addition, recognised schools, colleges and libraries were allowed to apply
for import licences up to a value of Rs. 25,000 per institution for the' import
of licenceable items. They were allowed to import later editions of books
for which Indian reprints are available.
The concession for the release of post-parcels containing books, maga-
zines and periodicals without the importers having to produce the import
licences continued to be available during 1981-82.
Book Export Promotional India is one of the ten major book producing countries of the world
Activities and the third largest country in the production of English titles. To promote
Indian books abroad, and sale of translation/reprint rights and securing
printing jobs from abroad, steps are being taken to publicise our books
abroad through participation in the International book fairs and organising
special exhibitions of Indian books, conducting market studies and corn-
mercial publicity through annotated catalogues and publicity brochures etc.
In the year 1981-82 India participated in the International Book Fairs/
Exhibitions held in Bangkok, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Moscow, Frankfurt,
Belgrade, Accra, Manila and Cairo.
Special exhibitions of Indian books were organised with the assistance
of Indian Missions abroad in Nigeria and Hong Kong. Special exhibitions
are also proposed to be organised in Thailand, Kenya, Australia and Nepal.
As a result of the efforts made to promote book exports, India's book
export for the year 1980-81 is valued at about Rs. 80 million.
RAJA RAMMOHUN ROY NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
CENTRE
The Centre was set up in 1972 (i) to act as an information-cum-research
centre to help develop indigenous book production and encourage Indian
authorship at University level, and (ii) for a statistical anal is of the data
on the types of books and other reading material being imported into the
country with a view to arriving at a meaningful import policy for books.
For this purpose, the Centre has been collecting university level books pro-
duced in the country since 1965 in all languages, in various disciplines. The
Centre conducts sample surveys on various aspects of production and use
of indigenous university level books. With a view to publishing the avail-
ability of the indigenous books, the Centre holds exhibitions of selected
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books at different universities, etc. The Centre issues periodical supple- ments to keep up-to-date the National Catalogue of university-level books and bibliographies on topics of interest to authors and publishers.
During the year, the Centre released a consolidated issue of supplements to the National Catalogue, covering the books published during January- September, 1981. The Centre also brought out the NERC Newsletter 1980-81, an issue of "A Bibliography on Book Industry and Trade" and "Annotated Catalogue of Low Priced Publications and Core Books".
COPYRIGHT A Copyright Office is functioning in the Ministry since 1958, mainly to register works in which copyright exists so that the owners of copyright in such works can have a prima facie evidence of their' ownership under the Copyright Act, 1957. The Copyright Office also functions as the secretariat for the Copyright Board which has been set up in pursuance of Section 11 of the Copyright Act, 1957. The Copyright Board was re-constituted on April 1, 1981. During the year, the Copyright Office registered 4,779 works.
India is a member of two International Conventions on Copyright, namely, the Berne Convention (1948) and the Universal Copyright Conven- tion (1952). These Conventions were revised at Paris in July, 1971 whereby special concessions were given to the developing countries to enable them to issue compulsory licences for reproduction/translation of books of foreign origin, in the event these rights could not be obtained on freely negotiated terms under certain conditions. A proposal has been formulated for amending the copyright Act, 1957 in order to take advantage of these concessions and to remove the lacunae that have been observed in the admi- nistration of the Act during the last 24 years.
During the year 1981 India participated in the following meetings
(a) WIPO Permanent Committee for Development Co-operation related to Copyright.,
(b) WIPO World wide Forum on Piracy of Sound and Audio- Visual Recordings.
(c) Budget Committee Meetings,
(d) WIPO Session of the Diplomatic Conference on the Revision of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial pro- perty.
(e) Conference for the negotiation and adoption of an independent instrument on the Protection of the Olympic Symbol.
(f) First Ordinary Session of Joint UNESCO/WIPO, Consultative Committee on- the access by Developing countries to works pro- tected by Copyright.