DELHI BOOK FAIR 2010

The Federation of Indian Publishers, in collaboration with the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), a premier trade promotion agency of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, organized the 16th Delhi Book Fair from 25 December 2010 to 2 January 2011 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The Fair was inaugurated by Dr. Subas Pani, Chairman and Managing Director of ITPO, by lighting the ceremonial lamp.

Dr. Subas Pani, Chairman and Managing Director, India Trade Promotion Organisation, inaugurating the Delhi Book Fair by lighting the ceremonial lamp

About 232 publishers in 600 stalls participated in the Fair. The Fair also witnessed the participation of China who had come with a delegation of 35 member-publishers.

The theme of the Fair this year was “Books for Rural India” and for this a Theme Pavilion was set up with a large number of posters, photographs and bio-datas of some renowned authors of books on/for rural India. A representative selection of books written by these authors was also displayed at the Theme Pavilion for the visitors to browse.

Shri M.H. Ansari, Vice-President of India, going round the Delhi Book Fair along with officials of ITPO

To make the event more meaningful, a number of conferences, seminars, book releases, book launches, meet the author get-togethers arranged by leading publishers and a host of cultural activities were also organized. The Federation also gave Awards for Excellence in Book Production in respect of 116 titles of 67 Publishers.

The Fair drew a big response and was a grand success with more than three lakhs visitors, book lovers, booksellers, buyers, academicians and researchers having visited the Fair. The Fair was extensively covered in both the electronic and print media.

Awards for best stalls in three categories i.e. English, Hindi and Regional languages were given by India Trade Promotion Organisation at a valedictory function held on the last day of the Fair.

AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN BOOK PRODUCTION 2010

FIP organised the 30th competition for Awards for Excellence in Book Production in respect of publications produced in India during 2009-2010.

The Federation invited publishers from all over the country to send their entries and received a total of 1230 books from 87 publishers. The Jury selected 116 titles of 67 publishers for Awards. Out of these, 43 titles had been selected for fist prize, 40 titles for second prize and 33 titles for Certificate of Merit.

Shri Shambhu Nath Shukla, Executive Editor, Amar Ujala speaking at the Awards function for Excellence in Book Production. Others on the dias are (from left) Shri Shakti Malik, Smt. Shyama Chona, Shri Anand Bhushan and Dr. Subas Pani

The Awards were given at a glittering ceremony held on 31 January 2010 during the Delhi Book Fair. Shri Shambhu Nath Shukla, Executive Editor, Amar Ujala, was the Chief Guest at the ceremony. Smt. Shayama Chona, former Principal, Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram and Dr. Subas Pani, Chairman and Managing Director, India Trade Promotion Organisation, were the Guests of Honour. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Shambhu Nath Shukla said he was very happy to see the quality of production of Indian books and the publishers have a great role to play in this. Smt. Shayama Chona said that her love for books started at the age of 5 and lauded the efforts of the publishers in bringing out beautiful books and also inculcating reading habit among the people of all ages especially the children. Dr. Subas Pani complimented the publishers and said the quality of Indian books compares very well with that of foreign books.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Shri Anand Bhushan, President, FIP, said the Awards which used to be restricted to only members of the Publishers Associations have now been made open to all publishers and any publisher in India is eligible to compete. The public sector publishing houses, the Universities and State Textbook Bureaus are also eligible to participate in this competition. He said the Awards for Excellence in Book Production which are 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 the area of printing, binding, layout, designing and general get up.

Ms. Anupama Jauhry of TERI, one of the Awardees for Excellence in Book Production, receiving the Award from Shri Shambhu Nath Shukla

The Jury members comprised eminent personalities well versed with different aspects of publishing. They were Shri Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharjee, former Editor, Sahitya Akademi, Prof. Indra Nath Choudhuri, former Secretary, Sahitya Akademi and Director, Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad, Prof. N.N. Sarkar, former Associate Professor of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication and Dr. Inderjeet, Principal, College of Vocational Studies.

The function was attended by more than 200 people comprising leading publishers, authors, writers, booksellers, librarians, participants in the Delhi Book Fair and the Awardees.