National Book Trust, India

History

It was just about a decade after independence and the nation was going through the arduous process of building itself anew. Foundations were being laid in all areas so that the edifice of prosperity could be built with confidence. The industry of organized publishing, as we know it today, was only in its infancy and books had not percolated to the bottom rungs of the society. There were opportunities like the book fairs for people to see, browse books

It was at this time,Shri Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,India's first Prime Minister, realized that alongwith scientific, technological and industrial advancement,equal emphasis should also be given to the social and culture development of the nation and for which he felt that book reading must be widely propagated to develop in people an abiding interest to understand and appreciate the various cultural and traditional heritage of the country. He him self a great writer and lover of books, Nehru concieved the idea of setting up institutions which without bureaucratic controls and direction could work towards this cause. Thus institutions like Sahitya Akademy, Lalit Kala Akademi and NBT came into being as autonomous organizations funded by the Government but with functional autonomy.

Thus National Book Trust, India, came to be established. It was inaugurated in August 1957 by the then president of India, the great philosopher and teacher Dr.S.Rachakrishnan. Speaking on the occasion Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru shared with the select audience his views on the importance of books, the habit of reading and his dream of a book reading society and the role to be played by National Book Trust, India in realizing the dream. The function was also graced by Dr.Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Shri John Mathai, the first chairman of the Trust.

The Trust was formally constituted as an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Education, Govt. of India, with its HQ's office in New Delhi. Fully financed by the Govt. of India the NBT has a Board of Trustees and an Executive Committee.

The activities and programmes of the Trust are initiated, implemented, monitored and controlled by the EC. Its objectives, activities and the achievements are reviewed from time to time and designed to meet new challenges which arise in the field of promoting reading habit. The concept of reading habit or book mindedness as Nehru envisaged was not confined to text books or professional books or career development books but the emphasis was on general reading, thus shaping its major aims and objectives.

Advantages of studying here

Activities from 2009 till now represent the advantages and acheivements of NBT:

· National Book Trust, India was an official co-partner of London Book Fair organised at Earls Court, London from 20-22 April 2009. NBT participated in the fair with three major components:

a) Promotion of the 19th New Delhi World Book Fair (NDWBF) among international publishers and exhibitors with a view to increase their participation in NDWBF;
b) Promotion of its Golden Jubilee Post-Independence Anthologies of Poetry, Short Stories and Plays published in all major as well as some smaller Indian languages among international publishers interested in taking them up for translations under their India specific programmes or under their modern literature in translation programmes or under their other suitable publishing initiatives.

c) Promotion of NBT's International Rights Catalogue of the Works on and by Mahatma Gandhi that was prepared on the basis of International Rights Exhibition IN WORDS AND IN DEEDS organised by the Trust during 18th New Delhi World Book Fair, 2008. The Rights Catalogue contains copyrights details of around 700 titles and represents the publications of more than 150 publishers.

· Noted lyricist and litterateur Gulzar kicked off a joint NBT - UNICEF project titled Documenting Oral Storytelling Tradition (DOST) to document oral storytelling tradition of India with an objective to create a treasure house of literature for children in the form of books as well as technologically advanced talking books in a meeting held at India International Centre on 6 May 2009.

· On the occasion of its 52nd Foundation Day, the Trust in collaboration with Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi organized Delhi Book Festival from 1st August 2009 to 9th August 2009 at Jamia Millia Islamia Campus, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi.

· Participated in 22nd Moscow International Book Fair where India was the Guest of Honour country. A delegation of 13 renowned litterateurs representing different Indian languages also participated.

· Opened a new bookstore at Asaf Ali Road, Delhi on 30th September 2009. Shri Arvinder Singh Lovely, Education Minister of Delhi, inaugurated the bookstore.

· Organised National Book Week celebrations from 14 November to 20 November 2009, throughout India. Also held weeklong National Children's Book and Activity Fair at Nehru Bhawan. The theme of the fair was Celebrating Science in Everyday Life. Book exhibition for school children in 49 schools of Delhi and NCR was also held.

Description

Publishing
The Trust publishes general reading material for all segments of society and for all agegroups, including books for children, post-literacy reading material for neo-literates, and Braille books for the visually challenged. Moderately priced books including fiction, nonfiction, supplementary reading material, informative books on a variety of subjects are published in English, Hindi and all major Indian languages.

During the Golden Jubilee year of the Trust, a special project, Golden Jubilee Anthology series was initiated for the first time in the country. In this unique series, special language anthologies of post-independence writings-poetry, short story and drama are being published. So far, 23 anthologies have been brought out in various Indian languages.

NBT Book Club:

The Trust also has a scheme of NBT Book Club where members can avail special discount on books as well as considerable rebate on postal charges.