FIP, in collaboration with the Gujarat Prakashak Mandal (GPM), Ahmedabad, organized a National Convention of Indian Languages Publishers on 21 June 2014 at the Karnavati Club, S.G. Road, Ahmedabad. The Convention was inaugurated by lighting of the Lamp by Shri Rashmikant Shah, President of the Convention, Dr. Ashok Gupta, President, FIP, Shri Sudhir Malhotra, past President, FIP, Shri Amar Nath Varma, past Vice-President (N), FIP, Shri Viplav Pujara, Hony. Secretary, GPM and Shri Manubhai Shah, Treasurer, GPM. According to Indian tradition, all the participants stood up and offered prayer to Devi Saraswati, the Goddess of Learning. Dr. Ashok Gupta in his welcome address, apprised the participants about FIP and its objectives, activities and important role it plays to promote professional standards amongst members and provide a forum to discuss their problems at national and international level. The topics discussed during the Convention were (i) Piracy and Copying of Books Published; (ii) E-Books and their Effect on the Market; (iii) Marketing Strategies; (iv) Problems of Translating Books from Gujarati and Marathi to other Languages and vice versa; and (v) Copyright and Indian Reprographic Rights Organisation (IRRO).
Shri Dhaval Shah and Shri Navin Joshi of S.Chand Group spoke about Piracy and Copying of Books Published through audio-visual presentation which were self-explanatory. Shri Sudhir Malhotra briefed the audience about the advent of E-books and its impact on the market. He said although in our country, the advent of E-books is at nascent stage but in the coming period, e-books would capture the market and affect the sale of physical books. Shri Rajendra Patel of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad, Ahmedabad and Shri Sunil Mehta of Mehta Publishing House, Pune, emphasized on the importance of translation from Gujarati to other Indian languages and vice-versa which they said were necessary for the spread of literature in a country like India where there are 25 national languages and numerous dialects.
Shri Sudhir Malhotra, Chairman, IRRO, briefed the audience in detail about the establishment of Indian Reprographic Rights Organisation (IRRO) which was registered by the Central Government as a Copyright Society in the field of literary works. He said as we all know photocopying of published works in the educational institutions and business establishments etc. have become very common these days. The principal objective of IRRO is to collect fees from the educational institutions/corporate offices and business establishments and distribute the collected fees amongst authors publishers and other stakeholders. He asked the publishers who were present there to become members of IRRO which would prove beneficial to them in near future.