Lok Sabha Question No. 1239 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-08
Subject: National Book Trust Centre, Kolkata
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Jagannath Sarkar

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1239

ANSWERED ON 08.12.2025

## National Book Trust Centre, Kolkata

1239 . Shri Jagannath Sarkar:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of activities undertaken by the Regional Centre of the National Book Trust (NBT) in Kolkata during the last three years, including details of book fairs, publications, and promotional programmes;
- (b) the details of annual budget allocated and spent by the NBT Regional Centre, Kolkata, in each of the last three years;
- (c) whether an Assistant Editor (Bangla) has been appointed at the Regional Centre, Kolkata, and if so, the specific editorial, translation and publication work undertaken by the said Centre, Kolkata during the last three years; and

(d) the number of times the contractual appointment of Assistant Editor (Bangla) has been extended and the present status of the service thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## (DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR)

- (a) National Book Trust is an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Education, set up to publish and promote books and encourage a culture of reading in India. NBT actively promotes these objectives through book fairs, exhibitions, and seminars across the country.

NBT has four regional centres (Eastern Regional Office, Kolkata, Western Regional Office, Pune,  Southern  Regional  Office,  Bengaluru  &  Northern  Regional  Office,  New  Delhi)  across  the country, which are engaged in promoting books and fostering reading habits. The Regional Centre of  the  National  Book  Trust  (NBT),  Kolkata  is  mainly  responsible  for  the  marketing  and  sales  of NBT publications in Northeastern region. It also organizes book exhibitions at various places in its region. The details of Book Fairs and Mobile Exhibitions organised by the Regional Centre of the National Book Trust (NBT) in Kolkata are as under:

|   S.No. | Year    |   Number of Book Fairs/ Mobile exhibitions |
|---------|---------|--------------------------------------------|
|       1 | 2022-23 |                                         31 |
|       2 | 2023-24 |                                         31 |
|       3 | 2024-25 |                                         63 |

- (b) The activities of NBT are financed through budgetary grants provided by the Ministry as well as Internal Revenue generated by the organisation. The details of the funds allocated to the NBT Regional  Centre,  Kolkata  for  its  activities  (while  all  other  expenditures  are  met  by  NBT Headquarters) are as follows:

|   S.No. | Year    | Funds Allocated   |
|---------|---------|-------------------|
|       1 | 2022-23 | Rs. 44,00,000/-   |
|       2 | 2023-24 | Rs. 43,00,000/-   |
|       3 | 2024-25 | Rs. 45,00,000/-   |

(c) & (d): NBT has one sanctioned position of Assistant Editor (Bangla) at its NBT headquarter in New Delhi. Publication in all languages are managed directly from NBT's Head Office in New Delhi.

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