By
Anote Ajeluorou
India
had long shown its desire to muscle its way into a global player. What with the
testing of a long-range missile about a month ago and its flair for computer
ingenuity? Indeed, in the world of knowledge economy, the Indian example as
symbolised by one company may well provide the roadmap for Nigeria to follow
IT
started as pure curiosity to find out what the Indians were up to. They had
taken about a quarter of the backspace of the huge Multi-purpose Hall of the
University of Lagos, venue for the Nigeria International Book Fair (NIBF) 2012.
Indeed, one of India’s top printing company, India Repro, has been providing
financial support for the book fair in the past few years. Just like other book
fairs around the world, Indians in the book industry have found Nigeria a
fertile environment to operate.
A major Indian government organisation with sole responsibility to promote
books and authors also joined Nigeria’s book fair party.
It is National Book Trust, India, an
autonomous body under the Department of Secondary and Higher Education,
Ministry of Human Resources Development, was established since 1957. Its major
activities include publishing, promotion of books, authors and reading,
promotion of Indian books abroad, assistance to authors and publishers, and
promotion of children’s literature.
According to Dr. Lalit Kishore Mandora, an assistant editor, himself a Hindi
poet (with the name Lalitya Lalit), who headed the group at the NIBF, said
other activities of National Book Trust, India, include organising
fairs/exhibitions throughout India (it has so far organised 19 World Book
Fairs, 38 National Book Fairs and about 250 regional book fairs), the biennial
New Delhi World Book Fair (the 20th edition comes up in February, 4-10, 2013),
making books available at the doorsteps through mobile exhibitions (has
enrolled about 80,000 book club members), providing assistance to authors and
publishers, organising seminars and workshops and running a National Centre for
Children’s Literature and publishing books in India’s over 30 languages.
Mandora also stated that the book trust, although a government organisation,
has over 20,000 authors in its care, as it searches out writers from all over
the world, and gives them publishing opportunities, and further stated, “good
literature makes a man of character” as part of its driving force.
Clearly a big organisation, Mandora affirmed that the trust paid out over
US$210,000 last year to its authors as royalties. Some of its activities aimed
at book and author promotion include a Mobile Book Event in which books are
taken to people’s doorsteps in vans directly at affordable costs.
WITH
India’s cheap printing environment that has become attractive to Nigerian
publishers and authors, cut-throat prices as is the case in Nigeria, is absent
and thus a major incentive to a flourishing book trade.
Mandora also stated that readership in India was well assured even for literary
texts. He stated, “Book is a friend to all; they keep us from loneliness; they
make us think and keep boredom away. Books make one happy. So, we promote books
and good writers and reading. India has a great market for books, and great
readers, too. We have good readers and buyers of books. Even those in ghettos,
they still buy books”.
This government body, National Book Trust, India, also organises the National
Action Plan for readership development among the youth that caters for the
interest of young people as critical element in the book chain.
Also, the National Centre for Children’s
Literature, according to Mandora, was established in 1993 among other things,
“to monitor, coordinate, plan and aid the publication of children’s literature
in various Indian languages. The body also holds the National Book Week in
November”.
Nigerian writers will look at India with envy as the national book organisation
has what is called Indian Literature series where writings of “well-known
contemporary Indian writers are brought out in various languages”.
Its World Literature series is an “Anthology
of contemporary writing from Asia, Africa and Latin America countries”, which
are published and made available for Indian audience.
ONE
other interesting area of National Book Trust, India activities is the folklore
publication series in which folklores from different parts of India are
published with the aim of acquainting other parts of India with such materials
for the purpose of integrating and uniting the country in spite of its
diversity.
Also at the Nigeria International Book Fair, a body that is similar to Nigerian
Export Promotion Council, known as CAPLEXIL, with emphasis on its printers and
publishers’ division, featured prominently. About 32 members of this body had stands
at the book fair. Their mission was clear: providing Nigerians with the latest
printing opportunities at reasonable costs.
With the country’s printing industry at a major crossroad in terms of lack of
paper or very expensive paper, poor electricity and high import tariffs, the
Asian continent has become the printing and publishing hub for Nigerian
publishers and authors. And the Indians are raking up big business here. That
explained their large numbers at the fair; they virtually print for all the big
publishers in the country.
The trust, according to Mandora, promotes Indian books abroad. As it attends
book fairs around the globe, it takes Indian writers along to conduct seminars
and workshops and read from their works to global audiences. For instance, the
trust was Guest of Honour at Frankfurt (2006), Moscow (2009) and Beijing (2010)
book fairs. In these events, a special exhibition of books from India is put up
as part of showcasing India’s cultural wealth.
As Mandora reeled out what his organisation does in promoting books and writers
in India, it became startlingly clear how much Nigeria has lost its way in the
quest of knowledge. There’s not even a department or division devoted to books
in the country much less an entire organisation with millions of dollars as
budget (although Mandora shied away from naming the body’s annual budget, which
may well be beside the point).
What is pertinent is that India has a vision
to promote books and authors and is actively doing so both at home and abroad.
What is more, it takes books to the doorsteps of readers at affordable costs
thus tackling the issue of a poor reading culture in the populace, as being
lamented in Nigeria.
INDEED,
Nigeria may well emulate the Indian example through some sort of intervention
in the book industry in the promotion of knowledge for rapid development! Bring
Back the Book campaign should be revitalised to play this role and play it
actively.
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