An Exemplary Sequence of Many Firsts

A Representative List

•  India declared Guest of Honour Country in 2004 for the Frankfurt Book Fair, 2006—the only country to get the status for the second time

• New publishing series like Popular Social Science Series, Autobiography Series, Afro-Asian Countries Series, Indian Diaspora Studies, Indian Literature Series for the general reader introduced since 2005

• Year-long programmes like international seminars, multi-lingual author’s reading programmes, trade oriented interactive sessions of Indian and foreign publishers organised at Frankfurt Book Fair, 2005, Leipzig Book Fair, 2006 and Frankfurt Book Fair 2006 and other cities of India and Germany as part of the Guest of Honour Presentation (GHP) of India at Frankfurt Book Fair 2006 with NBT, India as the Nodal Agency

• Provided Translation Subsidy to more than 50 Indian books for their translation into German, French, Italian languages under the GHP Project in 2005-2006

• Introduced the concept of ‘Spelling Bee Competitions’ in Asamiya language in 2005 under DPNER project and followed it up in various centres of the North-East

• Introduced the concept of ‘Youth Pavilion’ at the biennial 17^th New Delhi World Book Fair, 2006

• Launched Golden Jubilee Anthologies Project in 2006 as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations to bring out authentic Anthologies of Post-Independence Poetry, Short Stories and Drama in all major and smaller Indian languages; till now 30 Anthologies already published.

• Organised the First Children and Youth Book Fair at Kolkata in 2007

• In 2007 started two National Book Fairs every year to meet the growing demands from different quarters, up from one National Book Fair in two years

• The Annual Sales of NBT publications reach the record figure of Approx. Rs. 17 Crores (Gross) during 2007-08

• In 2008 at the biennial 18^th New Delhi World Book Fair, introduced the Concept of Guest of Honour Country with Russia as the Guest Country

• In 2008 at the biennial 18^th New Delhi World Book Fair introduced the Concept of International Rights Exhibition with the organisation of IN WORDS AND IN DEEDS, an Exhibition of the Works on and by Mahatma Gandhi to commemorate the 60^th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of the Father of the Nation
• Submitted a comprehensive Restructuring Plan for National Book Trust, India in 2008 before the consideration of the Human Resources Development Ministry and Planning Commission under the 12^th Five Year Plan now under active consideration to meet the multi-fold increasing responsibilities and challenges of the Trust

• AICB-Anne & Arne J. Husveg Braille Literacy Promotion Award 2007 presented to NBT by All India Confederation of the Blind on the occasion of 199^th birth anniversary of Louis Braille for its exemplary initiative for making available Braille versions of its publications in Hindi, English and Tamil languages to visually challenged readers in the country.

• Initiated the Automation of Library-cum-Documentation Centre of NBT’s National Centre for Children’s Literature (NCCL) to link it with the larger library network of the world in 2008

• Unveiled the National Action Plan for the Readership Development among the Youth (NAPRDY) to focus on the reading needs of the young readers in the age group of 15-25 in 2008 starting with First Ever National Youth Readership Survey.

• Conceptualised and Designed photo-exhibition titled Maulana Abul Kalam Azad: Architect of Modern Education on the occasion of First National Education Day 11 November 2008 declared by Govt. of India and inaugurated by Her Excellency Smt. Pratibha Devi Singh Patil, President of India at Vigyan Bhawan