National convention of Indian language publishers at Guwahati

Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP), in collaboration with the All Assam Publishers and Booksellers Association, Guwahati, organized a ‘National Convention of Indian Language Publishers’ in Guwahati. The convention was inaugurated by Kanak Sen Deka, eminent journalist and ex president of Axom Sahitya Sabha. Sudhir Malhotra, president, FIP; Anand Bhushan, past president, FIP and Dr Ashok Gupta, hony. general secretary, FIP, also graced the occasion.

In his welcome speech, Ajit Kumar Barman, president, All Assam Publishers and Booksellers Association stressed on the importance of developing the arena of Indian languages in the North Eastern region for the benefit of publishing and printing industries, he said a positive outcome will emerge from the proceedings of the convention which will provide them the necessary guidelines and direction for future.

Inaugurating the convention, Kanak Sen Deka said that publishing was a noble profession and the people associated with this profession were wise and learned persons. He urged upon the publishing community to lay more emphasis on the Sanskrit language being the mother of all languages. Dr Satyendra Narayan Goswami, professor, Guwahati University, who was the guest of honour, spoke briefly about the necessity of holding such conventions from time to time for the development and exchange of knowhow of the publishing industry of the North East Region.

Dr Ashok Gupta spoke on the role of marketing and ways to do it cost effectively by using various utilities provided over the internet and also involving authors too in the propagation of their books through their own network. While, Giripada Dev Choudhury, advisor, All Assam Publishers and Booksellers Association, and Nilim Podder and Subhabrata Dev of the Tripura Publishers Guild took keen interest in the discussion that followed and pointed out the strategies adopted by them for marketing their publications as well as the difficulties faced by them in marketing.

NK Bhattacharjee, former director, NBT, emphasized the importance of translation of literature from one Indian language to other which, he said, was necessary for the spread of literature. Sumitakshi B Goswami, journalist and sub-editor of Asomiya Pratidin, in her speech dwelt on the development of the Assamese literature along with English which is regarded as a universal language.

Anand Bhushan briefed the audience about the establishment of Indian Reprographic Rights Organisation (IRRO) which has been registered by the Central Government as a Copyright Society to carry on the Copyright Business in reprographic rights in the field of literary works. He said any publisher or author of books, journals, magazines and periodicals is eligible to become a member of IRRO. He also dwelt on the intricacies of certain relevant provisions of the Copyright Act and enlightened the audience about the new developments in the Copyright Act and how to enforce them.

Other topics of discussion included subject of opportunities and challenges of e-publishing and sales of translation rights and how the publishers can move into the e-books environment. The convention concluded with a vote of thanks by Subhabrata Dev, assistant secretary of All Assam Publishers and Booksellers Association.

The convention was well organised and very well attended by more than 130 participants.