Imphal, May 7 : A two-day national seminar on `Challenges of Publishing in the North East` was inaugurated by the Governor of Manipur, Gurbachan Jagat this afternoon around 3 pm at the conference hall of the State Guest House in Imphal. The seminar is being jointly organised by the Federation of Indian Publishers, New Delhi and Writers` Forum Imphal.
During his inaugural speech the Governor expressed his satisfaction and noted that the Writers` Forum, Imphal, founded in 1988 by a group of like minded writers and literary men with the main objective of taking up the task of book publishing in Manipur, had so far published more than 70 books written by eminent authors.
He said that for developing countries like India and particularly the state of Manipur, the role of book publishers was very important as through them all branches of knowledge were being spread in society. They deserve every encouragement, he added.
India has advanced increasingly in the trade of book publishing with the development of printing technology. It is estimated that around 70,000 new books are published in India every year. This figure, though impressive, is rather small in view of per capita terms. Therefore, India has to raise the numbers of the actual production and sales of books. Oxford University Press, Cambridge University, Orient Longmans, Macmillan and a few other foreign publishers had set up branches in this country and many Indian publishing firms, on the other hand, had started capturing a big portion of the global market place, he said.
The international firms and many other publishers dealing with regional languages were doing good business in book publication, but the north east states are still lagging behind the other states of the country for two main reasons - small population and lack of infrastructure. Assam is somewhat better as compared to the other states of the region. As for Manipur, the situation is not good as professional publishers are not coming in this direction, he said.
The Governor observed that Manipur was a very beautiful state where many talented poets, writers, artistes had been and are born. It was famous for its games and sports, dances, theatre, cinema, etc and its beautiful and unique cultural heritage contributed to the enrichment of the glorious and age-old cultural mosaic of the country.
Such attributes of Manipur inspire the poets and writers, in their creativity, he said but wondered why inspite of the good number of poets and writers the publication of books in Manipur was not upto expectations. The most important factor could be the small market, he said while also lauding the Writers` Forum, Imphal which stood steadfast in order to develop book publishing in Manipur.
He was confident that the efforts of the seminar would help in creating awareness on the short and long term strategic and policy implications for the challenges and prospects of publishing in the state of Manipur. He also complimented the Federation of Indian Publishers and the Writers` Forum, Imphal for organising the seminar and exhorted them to contribute their best in promoting the trade of book publication.
The seminar was also attended by Prof N Tombi Singh, a scholar, Ratan Thiyam, theater director and Shakti Malik, official of the FIP, New Delhi.
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