The National Convention of Indian Languages Publishers held from 7 – 8 February 2015 at Grand Residency, Badambari, Cuttack. It was organized jointly by The Federation of Indian Publishers, New Delhi and Odisha Publishers & Booksellers Association, Cuttack. More than 100
delegates from Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and New Delhi, participated in the Conference.
Inaugural Session
Inaugural Session held at 10.00 a.m. in the Grand Residency Hall under the Presidentship of Shri Pitambar Mishra, President, Odisha Publishers & Booksellers Association. Shri Satakadi Hota, President, Odisha Sahitya Academy inaugurated the Convention and briefed on the problems of a publication in regional language. Shri Baishnab Ch. Parida – M.P. the Chief speaker had given importance to publish more books in Oriya Language. Dr. Ashok Gupta, President, FIP spoke on the aims & objectives of the Convention and what is the necessity of holding this type of Convention.
Seminars
Subject of 1st Seminar was – Publishers & Authors Relation (Copyright & Reprographic Rights Organisation (IRRO) Eminent Odia publisher Nrusing Prasad Mishra, Dr. Ashok Gupta, President, FIP, Shri Ramesh K. Mittal, Hony. General Secretary, FIP discussed on the above subject and requested all publishers to have signed agreement with authors and follow the copyright Act. Subject of 2nd Seminar was – E-Book Problem and Prospect: Former Asstt. Director of National Library, Kolkata, Mr. Safalya Kumar Nandi introduced the topic with his presentation and Dr. Ashok Gupta discussed about the status of e-books in India and how it is evolving and why all publishers including language ones should gradually adopt this technology in their day-to-day work environment.
Subject of 3rd Seminar was Problems of Translating Books From Odiya To Other Indian Languages and vice versa: Sangram Jena, eminent author and central Sahitya Academy Awardee delivered a thought provoking speech which was highly appreciated by all the delegates. Subject of 4th Seminar was Book Promotion and Marketing Strategies: Shri Bhanudeb Dutta, Kolkata, Dr. Ashok Gupta, President, FIP, Shri Amar Nath Verma, Executive Committee Member, FIP and Ajoy Kumar Mishra, Odisha Publishers & Booksellers Association discussed different problems faced by publishers, Problems of Government purchase, College & School purchase and cost of publication were also discussed. Dr. Gupta emphasized the role of Internet in marketing of books and involving authors for promotion of their books through internet.
The Subject of 5th Seminar was – Piracy: Shri Sanjib Raghav of
S.Chand & Co.Ltd. spoke on the piracy problems of Indian Books and steps to be taken to prevent piracy. It is a headache as well as revenue loss to the publishers.
Closing Session
The closing session was presided by Dr. Ashok Gupta, President, FIP. Shri Saumya Ranjan Patnaik, Editor, Oriya Daily “Sambad” was chief guest and Dr. Bijay Anand Singh, President, Utkal Sahitya Samaja was the chief speaker of closing session. They discussed on the problems & prospects of publishers of India. Shri Bijay Kumar Padhihari, the Convenor of the Seminar was the co-ordinator of the Convention. The Convention was a milestone in the history of Odisha which encourage the publishers to move forward.