Lok Sabha Question No. 679 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-07-24
Subject: National Book Trust
Ministry: Education
Asked by: D.K. Suresh, Nalin Kumar Kateel, Sumalatha Ambareesh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 679 ANSWERED ON 24.07.2023

## National Book Trust

## 679. SHRI D.K. SURESH: SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL: SHRIMATI SUMALATHA AMBAREESH:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  it  is  true  that  National  Book  Trust  (NBT)  is  promoting  and  publishing  books  in various Indian Languages and if so, the number of books published in each Indian language during the last three years, year-wise and language-wise;
- (b) whether the Government feels that there is  need to expand the functions of National Book Trust (NBT) to cover more people of all Indian languages, if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government has taken any steps to further expand the functions of NBT to cover more people of all age groups in Indian languages and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government is aware that there are huge number of posts in NBT lying vacant for the last many years and if so, the details of the posts sanctioned and vacant in NBT, languagewise; and
- (e) whether the Government has taken any steps to fill up of the vacant posts to ensure better functioning of the NBT and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## ( DR. SUBHAS SARKAR )

- (a) Yes,  Sir.  National  Book  Trust  (NBT),  India  is  an  autonomous  organization  under Ministry of Education, Government of India, established in 1957 to publish and promote books  in  India  and  create  a  culture  of  reading.  The  detail  of  number  of  the  books published in each  Indian language during the last three  years,  year-wise and languagewise are provided at Annexure-I.
- (b) NBT has a regular publishing programme in 14 Indian languages which includes Asamiya,  Bangla,  Bodo,  Gujarati,  Hindi,  Kannada,  Kashmiri,  Malayalam,  Manipuri, Maithili,  Marathi,  Nepali,  Odia,  Punjabi,  Sanskrit,  Sindhi,  Tamil,  Telugu,  Urdu  and English. NBT has been continuously making efforts to publish in more Indian languages including Tribal languages. In this context 36 languages have been added including Ao Naga,  Asuri,  Bhojpuri,  Bhili,  Bhatri,  Biho,  Birajia,  Bhumij,  Dhubri,  Garhwali,  Garo, Gondi,  Ho,  Halbi,  Haryanavi,  Himachali,  Khadia,  Khasi,  Kokborok,  Konkani,  Kuduk, Kumauni,  Lepcha,  Bhutia,  Malto,  Malavi,  Mising,  Mundari,  Limboo,  Mizo,  Newari, Nimari, Magahi, Rajasthani, Tibetan, Santali, among others.  As part of NEP implementation Plan, NBT has also started publishing bilingual editions of its books and the same have been published in Hindi-English, English-Telugu, English-Tamil, EnglishPunjabi, English-Marathi and English-Urdu.
- (c) Yes, Sir. The steps taken are provided at Annexure -II.
- (d) The details of the posts sanctioned and vacant in National Book Trust, India is as under:
- (e) The Revision of the Recruitment rules to fill up the vacant post is a continuous process. ***

| Sanctioned posts   | Filled posts   | Vacant posts   |
|--------------------|----------------|----------------|
| 275 + 15*          | 153+13*        | 122+02*        |

ANNEXURE  AS  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  679  FOR  ANSWER  ON  24.07.2023  REGARDING NATIONAL BOOK TRUST ASKED BY SHRI D.K. SURESH, SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL AND SHRIMATI SUMALATHA AMBAREESH, HON'BLE MP.

|   S.no. | Language   | Books Published in the year 2019-20   | Books Published in the year 2020-21   | Books Published in the year 2021-22   |
|---------|------------|---------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|
|       1 | Asamiya    | 13                                    | 82                                    | 80                                    |
|       2 | Asuri      | 3                                     | -                                     | 3                                     |
|       3 | Bangla     | 144                                   | 44                                    | 171                                   |
|       4 | Bhatri     | -                                     | -                                     | 3                                     |
|       5 | Bhojpuri   | -                                     | 1                                     | 3                                     |
|       6 | Bhumij     | 2                                     | -                                     | 3                                     |
|       7 | Bhutia     | 1                                     | -                                     | -                                     |
|       8 | Biho       | 3                                     | -                                     | 3                                     |
|       9 | Bilingual  | -                                     | 20                                    | 172                                   |
|      10 | Birajia    | 3                                     | -                                     | 2                                     |
|      11 | Bodo       | -                                     | 35                                    | 6                                     |
|      12 | English    | 440                                   | 673                                   | 699                                   |
|      13 | Garo       | -                                     | -                                     | 6                                     |
|      14 | Gondi      | -                                     | -                                     | 3                                     |
|      15 | Gujarati   | 275                                   | 88                                    | 5                                     |
|      16 | Halbi      | -                                     | -                                     | 1                                     |
|      17 | Haryanvi   | -                                     | 28                                    |                                       |
|      18 | Himachali  | -                                     | -                                     | 1                                     |
|      19 | Hindi      | 756                                   | 854                                   | 1235                                  |
|      20 | Ho         | 7                                     | -                                     | 3                                     |
|      21 | Kannada    | 15                                    | 73                                    | 67                                    |
|      22 | Kashmiri   | -                                     | 1                                     | -                                     |
|      23 | Khadiya    | 6                                     | -                                     | 5                                     |
|      24 | Khasi      | 2                                     | -                                     | 6                                     |
|      25 | Kokborok   | 10                                    | -                                     | -                                     |
|      26 | Konkani    | 1                                     | -                                     | -                                     |
|      27 | Kudukh     | 6                                     | -                                     | 6                                     |
|      28 | Magahi     | -                                     | -                                     | 2                                     |
|      29 | Maithili   | -                                     | 1                                     | 4                                     |
|      30 | Malayalam  | 53                                    | 14                                    | 33                                    |
|      31 | Malto      | -                                     | -                                     | 2                                     |
|      32 | Manipuri   | -                                     | 15                                    | -                                     |
|      33 | Marathi    | 56                                    | 61                                    | 44                                    |
|      34 | Mato       | 2                                     | -                                     | -                                     |
|      35 | Mizo       | 8                                     | 1                                     | -                                     |
|      36 | Mundari    | 7                                     | -                                     | 6                                     |
|      37 | Nepali     | -                                     | -                                     | 24                                    |
|      38 | Odia       | 136                                   | 202                                   | 181                                   |
|      39 | Punjabi    | 22                                    | 61                                    | 90                                    |
|      40 | Sanskrit   | 6                                     | 5                                     | 1                                     |
|      41 | Santali    | -                                     | -                                     | 5                                     |
|      42 | Spanish    | 12                                    | -                                     | -                                     |
|      43 | Tamil      | 10                                    | 40                                    | 92                                    |
|      44 | Telugu     | 9                                     | 82                                    | 27                                    |
|      45 | Urdu Total | 5 2013                                | 28 2409                               | 9 3003                                |

ANNEXURE  AS  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (c)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  679  FOR  ANSWER  ON  24.07.2023  REGARDING NATIONAL BOOK TRUST ASKED BY SHRI D.K. SURESH, SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL AND SHRIMATI SUMALATHA AMBAREESH, HON'BLE MP.

## (a) Books in Tribal Languages

With an objective to  promote  all  Major,  Minor  and  Tribal  languages  of  India,  National  Book Trust (NBT), India has been bringing out books in various Tribal languages like Asuri, Bhatri, Bhili, Biho, Bhumij, Bhutia, Birajia, Bodo, Garo, Gondi, Ho, Halbi, Khasi, Kokborok, Lepcha, Mizo, Santali, among others. NBT is now bringing out original titles in Tribal languages in an innovative Trilingual format. A set of books in Gondi-Bhatri-Halbi format including Nana Mua, Amur Tihar, Bagh Pila -Chendru, Bastar Cho Tihar, Jane Kiya Naad are being published.

## (b) Knowledge Communication Centres

As a part of the unique concept by National Book Trust, India where Public Reading Spaces are being  developed  in  a  new  format  promoting  360  degree  learning  for  public  at  large,  these Libraries - better known as the Knowledge Communication Centres - provide reading-related infrastructure,  created  especially  at  public  spaces  for  all  age  groups,  in  order  to  provide  a platform  for  all  those  who  believe  in  the  idea  of  Education  as  a  Transformation  tool  for  the society. National Book Trust (NBT), as India has set-up about 15 such centres across the country including Haryana, Karnataka and Puducherry.

## (c) Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan

The  Samagra  Shiksha  Abhiyan  is  a  flagship  programme  of  the  Government  of  India,  for  the promotion  of  reading  habit  among  school  children  through  the  libraries  of  their  respective schools.  Under  the  programme,  books  in  many  languages  have  been  published  for  the  school children  by  NBT.  The  books  are  selected  by  a  panel  of  experts  of  the  respective  state governments for school children in their states.

## (d) Braille Books

As part of its initiatives to make books easily accessible to the readers with special needs across India,  National  Book  Trust  (NBT),  India  in  collaboration  with  All  India  Confederation  of  the Blind (AICB) jointly publishes books in Braille for visually impaired readers. The books are not only being brought out in Hindi and English, but also in other Indian languages like Gujarati, Kannada,  Malayalam,  Marathi  and  Tamil  languages.  So  far,  over  360  books  have  been published.

## (e)      Translation Workshops

In order to cater to the needs of the readers especially children and young readers, and promote Indian  languages,  National  Book  Trust  (NBT),  India  is  widening  its  publishing  programme through its various activities such as translation workshops.

## (f) Books in Sign Language

National  Book  Trust  (NBT),  India  in  association  with  Indian  Sign  Language  Research  & Training Centre (ISLRTC), Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of  Social  Justice  and  Environment  has  brought  out  books  in  sign  language  for  the  benefit  of people with hearing disability. By converting the prominent publications into sign language, the Trust aspires to fulfill the reading requirements of the hearing impaired with a view to empower this  sector.  This  initiative  will  introduce  them  to  different  authors  and  genres.   As  part  of  this initiative,  the  titles  from  NBT-India's  Veergatha  series  have  been  converted  into  Indian  Sign Language. The e-content for the same was launched by Ms. Pratima Bhoumik, Hon'ble Minister of  Social  Justice  &  Empowerment,  and  Ms.  Annapurna  Devi,  Hon'ble  Minister  of  State  for Education on the occasion of International Sign Language Day on 23rd September, 2022.

## (g) PM-YUVA (Young Upcoming Versatile Authors) Mentorship Scheme 1.0

The  Prime  Minister's  Young  Upcoming  Versatile  Authors  (YUVA)  Mentorship  Scheme  was launched  by  the  Ministry  of  Education,  Government  of  India  with  NBT  as  the  Implementing Agency on 29th May, 2021. The Scheme envisaged to promote reading, writing and book culture in the country, and project India and Indian writings globally.

An all-India Contest was organised from 01st June - 31st July 2021 through MyGov and NBT platforms for the authors below 30 years. The Theme of the contest was 'National Movement of India' with 'Unsung Heroes', 'Role of Unknown Places in Freedom Movement' etc. as Focus areas.  A  total  of  75  authors  were  selected  and  their  books  have  now  been  published.  A consolidated scholarship of Rs. 50,000/- per month for a period of six months per author were paid  to  75  select  authors  under  the  Mentorship  Scheme  representing  22  Indian  languages including English. In addition to, 10% royalty will also be paid by NBT on publication and sale of the books.

## (h) PM-YUVA (Young Upcoming Versatile Authors) Mentorship Scheme 2.0

The  Ministry  of  Education,  Government  of  India,  launched  YUVA  2.0  -  Prime  Minister's Scheme for Mentoring Young Authors on 2nd October, 2022. The launch of YUVA 2.0 is in tune  with  the  Prime  Minister's  vision  to  encourage  the  youth  to  understand  and  appreciate India's  democracy.  YUVA  2.0  is  a  part  of  India@75  Project  (Azadi  Ka  Amrit  Mahotsav)  to bring  forth  the  perspectives  of  the  young  generation  of  writers  on  the  theme  'Democracy (institutions, events, people, constitutional values - past, present, future)' in an innovative and creative manner. This scheme will thus help to develop a stream of writers who can write on a spectrum of subjects to promote Indian heritage, culture, and knowledge system.

## (i) MoU with Tribal Research Institute, Ranchi

National Book Trust (NBT), India signed an MoU with Ranchi's Dr. Ram Dayal Munda Tribal Welfare Research Institute, popularly known as Tribal Research Institute (TRI), to preserve three endangered tribal languages by publishing children's pictorial books in those languages. As part of this programme, a three-day workshop was organised at TRI campus in Ranchi in which 15 pictorial books were translated into three tribal languages namely, Sabal, Korwa  and Pahariya.   Shri  Satya  Narayan  Munda,  former  Vice-chancellor,  Dr.  SP  Mukherjee  University, inaugurated the workshop.

The NBT also regularly organizes books fairs, book exhibitions throughout the country including the Northeastern States. Recently, the Trust successfully organised Gomti Book Fair and Ladakh Book Fair.

***