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Facts are stranger!

"As 60 Years of Book Publishing in India" hits the stands, editor Dina N. Malhotra speaks to ANUJ KUMAR

PHOTO: S. SUBRAMANIUM

FOR THE PERSONAL TOUCH Dina N. Malhotra at his residence

Shedding light on the seemingly staid world of book production, "60 Years of Book Publishing in India" has just hit the stands. Brought out by The Federation of Indian Publishers, the book has been edited by the grand old man of Indian publishing, Dina N. Malhotra, the man known for ushering in the paperback revolution in the country.

Says he, "The book breaks the myth propagated by a section of the media that publishing thrives only in English. We do not disown English, but the fact is that English language books constitute only 20 per cent of 80,000 books published in the country. The book highlights the fact that we have a well-developed publishing industry in around 18 Indian languages."

Making the "encyclopaedic work" interesting is the analysis of matters concerning the publishing industry by names likes Kapila Vatsyayan, Kamleshwar, Rajendra Awasthy and Tejeshwar Singh.

Malhotra believes that one of the reasons Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize for Literature was that he could translate "Gitanjali" into English himself. "Regional writers face the problem of translation. In Indian, publishers have treated translation as cost-per-page job. Even the Sahitya Akademi's translations are not up to the mark. It is a specialist job where the translator must be able to understand the spirit of the original and is well versed with the phraseology of both the languages. If we can translate our work to the standards of the European and American market, we could win the Nobel Prize every three-four years."

Language education

Another problem, he says, is the virtual absence of Indian language education in schools. Kids get the option to learn French and German, not Bangla or Telugu. "This limits the market of Indian language books to the respective states only. Only a few national newspapers highlight the new vernacular books and authors."

He also points out the waning library culture in the country. "The Government started the Raja Ram Mohan Library Foundation, but it has made only feeble progress. Like every colony has a community centre, it should have a library as well. Perhaps libraries don't fit in the vote bank politics of the political parties. We should promote a culture where every home should have a library. It should be treated like an inheritance."

Talking about the increasing presence of foreign publishers in the country, Malhotra says, "Globalisation of human feelings is welcome, but the gobbling up of small publishers is not. This has happened in England and it seems imminent in India. I don't foresee big players dictating content, but the demise of small players will shake the personal touch between the publisher and the author, something Indian publishing is famous for. For biggies, everything boils down to the balance sheet."

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