Skill development to be the theme at Delhi Book Fair!

The Delhi Book Fair is all set to open its doors. ITPO and FIP are trying their best to provide a perfect ambience for book lovers. Dr Ashok Gupta, president, FIP, in conversation with Varsha Verma, shares the various initiatives taken by them to make it successful. Organised by India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) and co-organised by Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP), Delhi Book Fair 2015 will be held at Pragati Maidan from August 29 – September 06, 2015. “The theme of the fair is ‘skill development’, which our prime minister Narendra Modi is also focussing,” told Dr Ashok Gupta, president, FIP. The special theme pavilion would be showcased in hall 8 and it will present the initiatives taken by Government of India in this direction, besides a display on books by various publishers on this subject.

The stats…

The show will be spread over hall 8-12 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. “Last year, there were 550 stalls with 300 publishers and we are targeting a similar number this year,” he shared. There will be a publisher wise display. On asking about the foreign participants at the fair, Dr Gupta replied that there might be few exhibitors from Pakistan, US and British High Commission.

And it will not just be display of books… there will be a painting competition, Lekhika Sangh, besides programmes by Sahitya Akademi, Authors Guild of India, Bachpan Society, National Book Trust, India, etc. Authors Corners in every hall are also planned.

What’s more?

“We wish to make it a cultural event and hence requested ITPO to arrange Nukkad plays. We are trying for Police Band to perform at the fair,” told Dr Gupta. It is a positive factor that there will be two concurrent exhibitions during the fair – Stationery Fair and Office Equipment Fair. “These will further push up the visitors to the show,” said Dr Gupta.

Visitors promotion…

Talking about the promotion of the fair, Dr Gupta told that they have requested elementary education secretary, HRD, Govt of India to instruct all schools in NCR to buy books from Delhi Book Fair, with the grants received under Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan (RMSA). Under this scheme, all schools can buy books worth Rs 15,000. “We have also invited libraries like Raja Ram Mohan Roy Foundation and universities librarians to buy books from DBF,” he added. ITPO has also announced that school students visiting the fair in school dress with their school teachers, would get entry free of charge. They will utilise a multitude of channels to promote the fair. These will include FM channels for a month, hoardings, metro panels, print media advertisements, auto panels and bulletins in newspapers. “We expect around 2.5 lakh ticket sales during the fair,” told Dr Gupta.

Awards in book

production The FIP will also hold the 35th ‘Awards for Excellence in Book Production.’ The awards, given on an annual basis, are industry benchmarks in assessing national production standards. The objective of the competition for Awards is to motivate publishers to improve the quality of production of books in terms of printing, binding, layouts, designing and general get up. “Last year we received 1,100 books, of which 90 were awarded.

We are expecting good number of books this time and have invited government publications to participate in it as well,” told Dr Gupta. “These awards have seen the production quality of Indian publishers gone up tremendously and these are now comparable with international standards.”

On a concluding note…

“It is a consumer fair as it is more reader-oriented. Almost 90 percent of stalls have books which are required by general people. Delhi Book Fair presents an environment for reading and browsing books as one can easily move around. We provide an air-conditioned friendly atmosphere for visitors,” concluded Dr Gupta.

A glimpse of the previous year bookfair.