The purchase of books for the libraries in the State has become a messy affair in the absence of a well-defined book policy. The ambiguity in the rules guiding the procurement has been fuelling the rise of fly-by-night publishers.
According to the rules, the government can purchase books worth Rs one lakh from a single publisher in a year. But, in order to subvert the rule, publishers register several publishing firms in the name of their kith and kin and bring out books in the name of such firms. All such books are submitted to the committee which selects books for purchase.
Thus, a single publisher manages to sell books worth more than Rs one lakh to the government. Since a minimum of 300 copies of the selected books are purchased, the publisher need not struggle for any more sales. Nor does he need to wait for years to get back his investment. And such books can be found only in libraries and not in the market.
“Majority of the Kannada publishing houses will close down if the Department of Libraries stops purchase of books for five years,” a litterateur summed up the situation.
The publishers that the Deccan Herald spoke to are of the opinion that the very rule of limiting purchase to Rs one lakh should be scrapped.
They said the rule has denied many a good books to the bibliophiles. They suggest that the screening committee should purchase good books on a priority basis and later go for other books if the finance permits.
An affidavit from the publisher should be insisted that he or she has not been running any shell publication firm, they suggested. The flaws in the rules governing procurement are to be blamed for the mess, said Prakash Kambattalli of Ankita Publications.
Yardstick impasse
The rule pertaining to the year of publication is another one flouted conveniently. The Department stipulates that only the first edition/print of the book should be purchased. However, there are publishers who bring out the books as first edition, though they have been printed the previous year. Then there is an ingenious concept such as ‘revised first edition.’
“You cannot find any difference from the first edition and the so-called revised first edition. In fact, you cannot distinguish them,” a litterateur said. The yardstick for selecting books is also a contentious issue. There are allegations that only the quality of the paper used, the cover page and other extraneous issues are looked into, but not the content of the book, during the selection process.
“Books are selected on their names, a cursory look at the foreword, cover pages and after going through only a few pages,” said R S Rajaram of Navakarnataka Publications.
The members of the selection committee have their own problem. Given the sheer volume of the books they receive, it is virtually impossible to go through all of them before selection, they contend.
“We rejected 400 books out of the 5,000 received last year. This year, we have received as many as 7,000 books. Is it humanly possible for us to read all the books,” a member questioned. Rajaram said the publishers had suggested the members to select the books on the basis of reviews which appear in newspapers and periodicals. It was also suggested that the popularity of a particular book could be gauged by organising exhibitions at various places across the State.
“The suggestion was not acted upon,” Rajaram said. There are also allegations of publishers, officials of the Department and the selection committee members being hand in glove to prefer some books. A litterateur said the officials and the panel members share the commission.
Prof S G Siddaramaiah, former chairperson of Kannada Book Authority, said there was no transparency in the purchase of books due to the absence of a clear policy. He said a strong book policy is the only solution for the ills plaguing procurement.