WHILE the term ‘Gandhigiri’ is increasingly becoming popular among people across different sections of society, Gandhi’s books are becoming popular too. The Navajivan Press which specialises in publication of Gandhi’s writings says that a significant number of people are now buying books written by Gandhi in English as well as its translated versions.
Statistics show that the English version of Gandhi’s autobiography is the most sought after as the total number of copies printed before 1995 was 11,39,000. While 80,000 copies of the English version were reprinted in 2005-06, 65,000 copies were reprintd in 2006-07.
The Bengali version of the autibiography, however, stands to lose as only 10,000 copies were printed before 1995 and no copies were re-printed later. However, while 8,000 Urdu copies were printed before 1995, there was only one reprint of 3000 copies in 2006-07.
Sunil Upadhyaya, Assistant Sales Manager of the Navajivan Trust says, ‘‘One of the causes of the increasing sales and publishing of these books is the awareness created about Gandhi in today’s world. There are of course lot of local, national and international issues related to the reason behind this awareness. One reason would be the existence of a violent world wherein non-violence is offered as a solution.’’
Upadhyaya says that although earlier the focus was purely on two versions of Gandhi’s writings, the press has moved on to publishing the works of Gandhi in regional languages only recently. ‘‘The autobiography of Gandhi remains a favourite among people and is a best-seller, while earlier concentration was only on English and Hindi, we switched to publishing the autobiography in other regional languages,’’ he says.
He says that there is a conscious effort being made by the press to publish other works of Gandhi, other than the autobiography. ‘‘We are also making an effort to print the rest of the works in form of booklets in Tamil, Malyalam and Marathi. These booklets are priced between Rs 5 to 10 and are thus made easily available for people interested in reading Gandhi,’’ he added.
Source: Expressindia.com
Statistics show that the English version of Gandhi’s autobiography is the most sought after as the total number of copies printed before 1995 was 11,39,000. While 80,000 copies of the English version were reprinted in 2005-06, 65,000 copies were reprintd in 2006-07.
The Bengali version of the autibiography, however, stands to lose as only 10,000 copies were printed before 1995 and no copies were re-printed later. However, while 8,000 Urdu copies were printed before 1995, there was only one reprint of 3000 copies in 2006-07.
Sunil Upadhyaya, Assistant Sales Manager of the Navajivan Trust says, ‘‘One of the causes of the increasing sales and publishing of these books is the awareness created about Gandhi in today’s world. There are of course lot of local, national and international issues related to the reason behind this awareness. One reason would be the existence of a violent world wherein non-violence is offered as a solution.’’
Upadhyaya says that although earlier the focus was purely on two versions of Gandhi’s writings, the press has moved on to publishing the works of Gandhi in regional languages only recently. ‘‘The autobiography of Gandhi remains a favourite among people and is a best-seller, while earlier concentration was only on English and Hindi, we switched to publishing the autobiography in other regional languages,’’ he says.
He says that there is a conscious effort being made by the press to publish other works of Gandhi, other than the autobiography. ‘‘We are also making an effort to print the rest of the works in form of booklets in Tamil, Malyalam and Marathi. These booklets are priced between Rs 5 to 10 and are thus made easily available for people interested in reading Gandhi,’’ he added.
Source: Expressindia.com