‘We should make a habit of gifting our children a book on their birthdays. More than anything, it will help them to become a better human being,’ says Baldev Bhai Sharma, Chairman, NBT. By Jigyasu Joshi
Completing some file work while sitting in the office room, Baldev Bhai Sharma, chairman, National Book Trust’s table is half occupied with pile of books on the left and official sealed files on the right. Busy with the preparations for the New Delhi World Book Fair 2017, which is going to take place in January, Sharma’s focus will be the 60th anniversary of the National Book Trust (NBT) and its relevance in world literature.
“The book fair will this year emphaise on the missions and the achievements by NBT for spreading the culture of reading into the remotest parts of the country. For instance, we run vans called Parikrama Bus, which moves in the villages and the remotest corners of the country. The vans carry books which people in the respective area can purchase by paying a very nominal charge. There are many such things which would be the highlight for this edition.” Sharing an incident which motivates him in spread the reading culture, he recalls, “One of our vans was in the rural part of Orissa for nearly two months. And when it returned back with the records of sale of the books we were happily surprised by the number of books that were sold. More than 80 per cent of our books were sold. This encouraged us to keep working the same direction till the record goes to 100 per cent.”
Considered as one of the largest book fairs in the Afro-Asian region, NDWBF has acquired a high reputation among the international publishing industry. The 25th edition of the fair is scheduled from 7-15 January 2017 at Pragati Maidan. “The motive of the book fair is not simply to accumulate masses to a place where they can buy books. The fair has two motives. First is to make the new generation aware about both, the old and the latest literature and second is to educate them more about book publishing,” he says.
The NDWBF will host a number of literary events, like seminars, discussions, book releases, workshops etc. In addition the star attraction of the fair will be the Author’s Corner where authors will be provided a platform to share their literary journey with the booklovers, who can thong the arena to catch a glimpse of their favourite author to interact with them.
Striking a difference between the book fairs that takes place in the other parts of the world and NDWBF, he says, “The book fairs that I have attended outside India are more trade based. It is a platform for the corporates to meet and buy copyrights for a book or there are conventions about how the book industry can be pushed forward and things of that sort. Whereas in India, the fair is for the book lovers. It is for them to gather at a place where they can exchange ideas and thoughts and their affection for the literature.”
Trying to keep up with the technological advances in the printing industry, Sharma believes that it is important for us to be run alongside the tech advances. “We are working on our plans to digitalise the books and enter into the e-books segment,” he says. Sharma adds that apart from entering in the e-books section, NBT is also working towards digital advancements in the printing process and the also towards content which the younger lot finds interesting and relevant.
“In India, the culture of reading needs to grow. We gift our children things that are not useful for them after a certain point of time. We should rather gift them books, which would certainly help them in having a holistic perception about many things,” Sharma concludes.