A Study Of Some Aspects Of The Publication Program Of The Government Of India, With Recommendations

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Content STUDY OF SOME ASPECTS OF THE PUBLICATION
PROGRAM OF THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA,
WITH RECOMMENDATIONS
by
Taverekere Srikantaiah
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(Library Science)
February 19 7 3
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SRIKANTAIAH, Taverekere, 1938-
A STUDY OF SOME ASPECTS OF THE PUBLICATION
PROGRAM OF THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, WITH
REOTMENBATIONS.
University of Southern California, Ph.D., 1973
Library Science
| University Microfilms. A X ERO X C o m p a n y , Ann Arbor, Michigan
THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED.
UNIVERSITY O F S O U T H E R N CALIFORNIA
THE GRADUATE SC H O O L
U N IV ER SITY PARK
LOS A N G ELES. C A L IFO R N IA 9 0 0 0 7
This dissertation, written by
T averekere S rik a n ta ia h
under the direction of hj.Dissertation Com
mittee, and approved by all its members, has
been presented to and accepted by The Graduate
School, in partial fulfillment of requirements of
the degree of
D O C T O R O F P H IL O S O P H Y
'7n>
Dean
DISSERTATION COMMITTEE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First of all, I would like to acknowledge my
indebtedness to Dr. Martha Boaz, Chairman of my disserta
tion committee, who contributed in many ways to the
completion of my Ph.D. program. She devoted much time to
discussion of my topic, encouraged me throughout my aca
demic career, and took a personal interest in my work.
Without her help, this research work could not have been
made.
I am also thankful to the other members of the
committee, Professors Raymond Kilpela, Edward Hess, and
Gilbert Siegel, for their valuable comments, which added
to and sharpened my concepts and techniques.
The receipt of a generous fellowship granted to me
under Title II-B by the U.S. Office of Education, for the
academic years 1968-1971, is gratefully acknowledged.
Sincere thanks are extended to Miss Hazel Griffin,
Head of the South Asian Languages Section of the Library
of Congress, and to her staff, for their suggestions. To
Professor Vivian Prince, for her valuable corrections and
advice, I shall always remain grateful.
Expressions of gratitude are also due to the many,
many officials of the various offices of the government of
ii
India who devoted their1 valuable time and energy to enable
me to collect the research data needed for this study.
In addition, I would like to state my appreciation
of the help given to me by Mr. Rodney Sarle, Mrs. Eunice
Gupta, and the staff members of the American Libraries
Book Procurement Center in New Delhi.
I acknowledge with thanks the typing of this thesis
by Mrs. Kathryn L. Smith, which was excellent in quality
in spite of the limited time made available to her.
Also, my appreciation is due to my wife, Jayashree
Srikantaiah, upon entering my life in November 1972,
maintained an effective understanding during the final
stages of this work.
Finally, my special thanks and deep gratitude go to
Mya Saw Shin, who helped me in every possible way, and
without whose help this thesis would have taken much longer:
to complete.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................... ii
LIST OF TABLES.....................................vii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS............................. ix
ABSTRACT . ............................... x
Chapter
I. FUNCTIONS AND ORGANIZATION OF THE
INDIAN GOVERNMENT ......................... 1
Physiography ........................... 1
Constitution ........................... 4
Government ............................. 6
Languages............................... 12
Ministries............................. 13
II. INDIAN GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS 19 |
Origin and Importance 19 ;
Definition 24 i
Types................................... 31
Authors 38 |
III. THE PROBLEM............................... 41
Hypothesis............................. 41
Limitations 44 ;
Review of the Literature............... 46
IV. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 49 '
Preliminary Survey 50 ;
Results................................. 5 0 ;
Publications ........................... 5 6
Control and Distribution ............... 5 8
Selection and Study..................... 61
Chapter Page
V. ANALYSIS OF D A T A 6 5
The Government of India Publications
Branch 6 6 .
Background 6 6
Process................................ 67
Publications .......................... 70
Bibliographical control 7 3
Distribution .......................... 81
Pricing formula ........................ 84
The Publications Division ................ 86
Background............................ 86
Process................................ 88
Publications 9 0
Bibliographical control 9 2
Distribution system 9 5
Pricing formula 9 6
Lok Sabha Secretariat 9 7
Background 9 7
Process 9 8
Publications 9 9
Bibliographical control 10 7
Distribution .......................... 110
Pricing formula ........................ 113
Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research: Publication and Information
Directorate.............................. 113
Background.............................. 113
Process.................................. 115
Publications .......................... 117
Bibliographical control ................ 118
Distribution system .................... 120
Pricing formula ........................ 121
Indian Council of Agricultural Research:
Publications Wing ...................... 121
Background.................. 121
Process.............................. • 123
Publications .......................... 124
v
Chapter
Page
Bibliographical control ..............
Distribution system .................
Pricing formula .....................
Summary ...............................
. 129
VI. INTERPRETATION OF DATA ..................
General Description ...................
Preparation .........................
Printing ...........................
Symbolization .......................
Pricing .............................
Publications .......................
Catalogs .............. ............
Distribution .......................
131
. 132
. 137
. 139
General Discussion ...................
Publications .......................
Printing ...........................
Wastage .............................
Sale promotion .....................
Miscellaneous .......................
. 155
. 156
. 164
. 16 8
The Current Model: Its Characteristics . . 170
Preparation . . .....................
Price Fixation .....................
Bibliographical control ..............
Distribution and sales promotion . . .
. 170
. 173
. 176
. 177
VII. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .......... . 184
SELECTEDi BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................... . 201
vi
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. The Offices of the Government of India .... 52
2. Government of India Offices Selected
for Study............................... 6 3
3. Kinds of Publications Received at the
Branch During the Years 1965/66-1969/70 . . 71
4. Kinds of Publications Held at the Branch
During the Years 1965/66-1969/70 .......... 72
5. List of Government Periodicals Distributed
by the Publications Branch................ 74
6. Number of Newspapers in which the Branch
Inserted Advertisements for their
Publications during the Years
1965/66-1969/70 80
7. Details of Sales Revenue and Free Distribution
of the Branch for the Years 1965/66-1970/71. . 85
8. Publications of the Division 1960/61-
19 70/71, By Language ...................... 9 3
9. Periodicals Published by the Publications
Division................................. 94
10. Branches of the Lok Sabha Secretariat
which Bring Out Publications................100
11. Periodicals Published by the Lok Sabha
Secretariat................................105
12. Volume of Printing in the Lok Sabha
Secretariat............................. 10 8
13. Publications Published by the Publication
and Information Directorate .............. 119
vii
Table Page
14. Publications Issued by the Publications
Wing.........................................126
15. Periodicals Published by the
Publications W i n g ...........................127
16. Government Presses in India ................. 133
17. Total Number of Government Publications
Cited in the Indian National Bibliography:
Compiled and Arranged by Subject for
the years 1958-1965 143
18. Government of India Periodicals by. Subject . . 145
19. Government of India Periodicals by
Language.....................................146
20. Examples of Periodicals Published by the
Publications Division, New Delhi .......... 166
viii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure Page
1. Territorial Divisions of India ............. 3
2. Organizational Chart of the Government
of India................................. 9
ix
ABSTRACT
The objective of this research is to examine some
aspects of the publication program of the government of
India, with an emphasis on the following areas: Biblio
graphic control system: bibliographical tools and their
scope; Distribution system: policy operation and its
effectiveness; and Price determination: cost factors
involved in the production of a publication and the price
fixing policy.
The investigation begins with a brief outline of
the salient features of the functions of the Indian
government and its organizational structure. A discussion
of the background of government publications, dealing with
their origin and importance, definition, types and authors,
follows.
A preliminary survey was conducted as a fact
finding measure, through available literature and through
correspondence with the various offices of the government
of India. The survey aimed at generating a list of all
the government of India offices that bring out publications
in various categories and the ways in which they are
prepared, controlled or distributed.
The study revealed more than 500 central government
offices that are comprised of attached offices, subordinate
x
offices, autonomous bodies, registered societies, inter
service organizations, and other organizations that are
controlled by different ministries and departments. The
survey also led to the analysis of five major bodies and
a decision to study the various aspects of the publication
program that have already been pointed out in the first
paragraph.
Analysis of the data showed that each office
within the government is established for a specific task,
a great majority of them having come into existence after
the country’s independence. The process of publishing
differs considerably from office to office and there is no
uniformity in the concepts of the publication program, such
as preparation, symbolization, printing, pricing, biblio
graphical control, and the sale and distribution of
publications.
The investigation indicated the following findings.
The government is the largest publisher in the country in
terms of both quantity and variety. The publication
program is highly decentralized and complex. There are
14 government presses responsible for printing publica
tions. These presses have a tremendous workload and their
printing work is felt to be more utilitarian in nature
than quality work, as evidenced by the poor quality of the
paper, ink, and format they use. The publications carry
xi
certain recognizable features (such as symbol, seal of the
government) but the practice is not uniform. The great
majority of the publications are in English, followed by
Hindi, with a negligible number of publications in the
regional languages. There is no single bibliographical
tool to point out all these publications. Catalogs, when
Issued, seem to be mere price lists and do not measure up
to professional standards. Distribution of publications is
done from many different outlets, the most popular being
the agents, who are actually commercial booksellers. The
appointment of agents involves tedious procedures, and the
rates of commission received on the sales differ from
office to office. Pricing of publications is not uniform,
and there are inconsistencies in conversion into foreign
currencies. Sales promotion and public relations are
inadequate, resulting in poor sales and distribution.
Recommendations included to improve the current
ineffective system are: a) to centralize the publication
program, b) to give sufficient freedom to the government
offices to choose presses from the private sector to meet
their needs and improve quality, c) to establish certain
standards for recognizable features such as symbols, d) to
prepare bibliographical tools of professional standards,
e) to set up a centralized clearinghouse for effective
distribution, f) to formulate a uniform pricing policy,
g) to use modern and scientific sales promotion methods,
xii
h) to establish an office, preferably an autonomous body,
to coordinate the program, and i) to conduct an in-depth
study of all areas of the publication program.
xiii
CHAPTER I
FUNCTIONS AND ORGANIZATION OF THE
INDIAN GOVERNMENT
Phys iography
The sovereign, democratic country of India lies
between latitudes 8°4' and 3 7° 6' north and longitudes 68°7'
and 97°25' east. Occupying a total area of 1,261,810
square miles, it is the seventh largest country in the
world and its population is the world's second highest.'*'
In spite of the diversities that exist in the
The following figures on the areas of the world's
largest countries are extracted from the table on pp. 725-
726 of the Information Please Almanac; Atlas and Yearbook,
19 7 2 (New York: Dan Golenpaul Associates, 1971):
U.S.S.R., 8,649,489 square miles; Canada, 3,851,787; China,
3,691,502; U.S.A., 3,540,939; Brazil, 3,286,470; Australia,
2,967,877; India, 1,261,810.
The same information is to be found in the
Statesman's Year Book; Statistical and Historical Annual of
the States of the World for the Year 19 72-19 73 (London:
Macmillan, 1970), p. 3 33.
The United Nations' Demographic Yearbook, 19 70
(New York, 1971), pp. 106-112, gives the 1953 Census
population figures for China as 5 82,603,417, also India's
1961 Census total of 547,000,000. The Information Please
Almanac cited above has the 19 7 2 estimated population
figures of 759,620,000 for China and 550,376,000 for
India.
1
2
areas of religion, language, economics, and society,^
India exhibits a fundamental unity. The country is a union
of states ; at the present time its territory consists of
17 states and 13 federally controlled territories. The
states are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana,
Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,
Mysore, Nagaland, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu,
Uttar Pradesh, and West Bangal. The territories which are
under direct union control are Delhi, Chandigarh, Himachal
Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,
the Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands, Dadra and
Nagra Haveli, Goa, Daman and Diu, and Pondicherry.
Figure 1 points out the territorial divisions and the
languages of the different areas.
It is not within the scope of this study to
discuss these diversities. However, a clearer idea of the
problems involved may be obtained from the following
sources: J. N. Farquhar, Modern Religious Movements in
India, 1st Indian ed., Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, IF6 7;
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Our Language Problem, edited
by Anand T. Hingorani, Bombay! Bharatiya Vldya Bhavan,
196 5; Govind Sadashiv Ghurye, Social Tensions in India,
Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 196 8; Sir George Grierson,
Linguistic Survey of India, Calcutta: Office of the
Superintendent of Government Printing, India, 190 3; Sohan
Raj Mohnot, Concentration of Economic Power in India,
Allahabad: Chaitanya Publishing House, 1962; Kshitimohan
Mukerji, Levels of Economic Activity and Public
Expenditures in India, Poona: Gokhale Institute of
Politics and Economics; New York: Asia Publishing House,
19 65; K. M. Pannikar, Hindu Society at Cross Roads, 3rd
ed., New York: Asia Publishing House, 1961; George Rosen,
Democracy and Economic Change in India, Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1966.
3
( P u n j a b ! ) rtJ W A B
( H i n d i ) HARYANA
( M j R N t h a n l ) RAJASTHAN
ASSAM ( A * aai* i* p * )
R E S T BB nrjA J- ( H e r tA A l ! )
ORISSA (c ir ly a )
ANDIIRA PRADKSJI ( T S lU R u )
(K a n n a d a ) MYSORE
ANDAMAN ANDj
NICOBAR ISLA N t^V j
( N a l a j r a l a a ) KERALA
Fig. 1.--Territorial Divisions of India
Languages are indicated in parentheses.
Constitution
India is one of the two countries into which the
former British Indian Empire was partitioned on August 15,
19 47. By the Indian Independence Act of 1947, which was
passed by both houses of parliament and which received the
royal assent on July 18 of the same year, the government
of the United Kingdom declared that it had no responsibil
ity for the government of India, and that its ruling power
over the Indian states had been abrogated. Between
August 15, 19 47 and January 26, 19 50, India retained the
status of a dominion in the British Empire. On January 26,
19 50 it became a republic. After considerable discussion
and debate, an indirectly elected Constituent Assembly,
meeting continuously between December, 1946 and November,
1949, finally completed the framing of a constitution got
the Republic of India. This document was formally adopted
on November 26, 1949 and became effective on January 26,
1950.
India’s Constitution is based on the provisions
set forth in the Government of India Act of 19 35. This act
was the last in an important series of enactments passed
by the British Parliament for the regulation of the British
possessions in India.^ Thus, the framers of the new
"^Indian Institute of Public Administratipn, The
Organization of the Government of India (Bombay: Asia
Publishing House, 19 5 8), p. Hereafter cited as IIPA,
Government of India.
Constitution had the advantage of being able to incorporate
therein several sections of the 19 35 Act, which itself was
drawn up on the basis of years of experience in government.
Various features and principles of governmental structure,
borrowed from Great Britain, Ireland, and the United
States, moreover, were adopted and incorporated.
India's Constitution has a total of 39 5 Articles
2
and eight Schedules, making it the world’s longest. A
complex document, it guarantees seven broad categories of
fundamental rights. Its general philosophy is embodied
in the Preamble, which declares the rights of citizens in
the areas of social, economic and political justice,
guarantees liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith
and worship, as well as equality of status and of
opportunity, and resolves to promote fraternity, assuring
* +
the dignity of the individual and the unity of the nation.
The Indian Constitution envisages a federal
structure. A central government accordingly has been
established side by side with a number of state governments.
^■Richard L. Park, India's Political System
(Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1967;, p. 78.
2
IIPA, Government of India, p. 9.
3 . . .
India (Republic) , Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting, Publications Division, India, A Reference
Annual, 19 70 (New Delhi: 1970), p. 22.
^India (Republic) , The Constitution of India
(Delhi: Manager of Publications , 1969 ) , p. T ~ .
While the term "federation" does not appear in the text of
the Constitution, the drafting committee, when submitting
the draft Constitution to the president of the Constituent
Assembly, observed that there were advantages to describing
India as a union even though its Constitution may be
federal in structure.'*' It, thus, provides for a
parliamentary system in both the central and the state
governments.
Government
The Parliamentary government is formally headed
by a President, Parliament itself being guided when
necessary by the President's Council of Ministers, whose
executive power of control normally lies with the Prime
Minister. There is, therefore, a collective responsibility
to Parliament. On closer examination, it will be seen that
the Prime Minister is responsible for the control and
execution of the central bureaucracy.
Each state government is headed by a Governor,
equivalent, to the President at the central level, and
since actual power is vested in the Cabinet, headed by a
Chief Minister, the Governor is head of the state in name
only. The chief ministers are responsible to the state i
legislatures. In each state, consequently, the bureaucracy.
IIPA, Government of India, p. 9.
7
is controlled by the chief minister and his cabinet
ministers.
A High Court in each state is vested with the
judicial power and is the highest court of appeal within
the state. It is also responsible for forwarding to the
Supreme Court of India all matters appealed by a party to
the legal action.
The question as to whether this type of governmen
tal structure and constitution is really federal has been
discussed at some length by political scientists, legal
authorities, public administrators, and scholars. Many
terms such as "quasi-federal" and "fedro-unitary" have
been coined to describe the present Indian system. The
units of the structure, under normal conditions, are
legally free to act independently of central control, these
areas being defined by the Constitution.^ ■
The government consists of three branches,
established according to function: the' executive, the
legislature, and the judiciary. In the executive branch,
the President heads the central government and the
governors head the state governments. The President by
constitutional right has full power to make rules for the
convenient transaction of governmental business and for the
^K. R. Bombwall, The Foundations of Indian
Federalism (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 196 7), p. 323.
8
allocation of duties to the various ministers. He appoints
the Prime Minister, and the rest of the ministers are also
appointed by him on the advice of the Prime Minister.
The Constitution entrusts the powers of executive
control, on the federal level, to the President, and on
the state level, to the governors. The executive power
lies in the hands of the Council of Ministers, generally
known as Cabinets.^ Power is wielded by the Prime
Minister who heads the Council of Ministers in New Delhi,
or by the Chief Minister of each state. Addresses to
Parliament or to state assemblies are drafted in the
cabinets and then read as formal documents by the President
2
or Governor. It is the Prime Minister, therefore, who
controls the executive power. He consults with the
Cabinet, thus placing on it responsibility for governmental
actions. By the same token, in practice the Prime
Minister's own secretariat tends to shoulder a great
portion of the burden of coordinating high-level policies,
leaving to the Cabinet members and other state ministries
the administrative responsibility for carrying on business
3
within the several ministries.
On the legislative side, Parliament consists of
^"Park, India's Political System, p. 83.
2Ibid.
^Ibid. , p. 84.
9
ORGANIZATIONAL CHART OF THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
(PRESIDENT)
|LOK SABHA
(PRIME MINISTER)
(COUNCIL OF MINISTERS)
COMPTROLLER AND
AUDITOR GENERAL
CABINET
RAJYA SABHA
JUDICIARY
PARLIAMENT
EXECUTIVE LEGISLATIVE
CONSTITUTION
SUPREME COURT
ELECTION
COMMISSION
UNION PUBLIC
SERVICE COMMISSION
Fig. 2.— Organizational Chart of the Government
of India.
Fig. 2.--Continued
. .r — T
Ministries of Ministries of
- DEFENCE
EDUCATION
g SOCIAL
WELFARE
FINANCE
FOOD AND
AGRICULTURE
EXTERNAL
AFFAIRS
FOREIGN
TRADE
HEALTH g FAM
ILY
PLANNING g
WORKS
housing g urba:
DEVELOPMENT
10
HOME AFFAIRS
PLANNING
Ministries of Ministries of
INDUSTRIAL
DEVELOPMENT
g INTERNAL
TRADE
J.LAW g
JUSTICE
INFORMATION S t
BROADCASTING
g COMMUNICA
TIONS
IRRIGATION
g POWER
PETROLEUM
CHEMICALS
I4g NON-
FERROUS
METALS
^ railways"
LABOUR, EMPLOYf-
MENT AND
REHABILITATION
STEEL g
HEAVY
ENGINEER'
ING
TOURISM g
4CIVIL
AVIATION
DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY [
DEPARTMENT OF PARLIAMENTARY
AFFAIRS g SHIPPING g
TRANSPORT
\ CABINET SECRETARIAT
\PRESIDENT'S OFFICES
\PRIME MINISTER'S SECRETARIAT
PLANNING COMMISSION . 1
COMMISSIONER FOR LINGUISTIC
MINORITIES
11
two houses, the House of the People, or Lok Sabha, and the
Council of States, or Rajya Sabha. The Lok Sabha is made
up of not more than 5 00 members directly elected from
territorial constituencies in the states, with a maximum of
25 members representing the union territories. The Council
of States is comprised of not more than 250 members, of
whom 12 are nominated by the President and the rest
elected. The operational activities of the legislature
are based on the British parliamentary system.
At the judicial level, the Supreme Court is the
highest judicial authority of the land, enjoying the right
of review over all activities of the government. It is
headed by a Chief Justice, assisted by up to 13 Associate
Justices. Judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by
the President after consultation with the Court’s existing
judges and those of the High Courts, as deemed necessary.
High Courts, to which judges are appointed by the
President, exist in each state. These courts enjoy full
jurisdiction within the state, except in those cases where
the Supreme Court alone has the authority to originate an
action. District Judges are appointed by state governors
with the approval of members of the High Court and the
Public Service Commission.^
■^An organizational chart of the government of India
is given in Figure 2. This chart also depicts the
administrative hierarchy existing within the government
and the interrelationships therein.
12
Languages
Article 343 of the Constitution of India states
as follows:
343. (1) The official language of the Union
shall be Hindi in Devanagari script.
The form of numerals to be used for the
official purposes of the Union shall be the
international form of Indian numerals.
(2) Notwithstanding anything in clause (1) , for
a period of fifteen years from the commencement
of this Constitution, the English language shall
continue to be used for all the official purposes
of the Union for which it was being used
immediately before such commencement:
Provided that the President may, during the
said period, by order authorise the use of the
Hindi language in addition to the English language
and of the Devanagari form of numerals in addition
to the international form of Indian numerals for
any of the official purposes of the Union.
(3) Notwithstanding anything in this article,
Parliament may by law provide for the use, after
the said period of fifteen years , of—
(a) the English language, or
(b) the Devanagari form of numerals,
for such purposes as may be specified in the law.'*'
Article 346 of the Constitution states that such
language as is authorised for use in the union for official
purposes will be the official language for communication
between one state and another state and between a state
and the union. The Official Languages Amendment Act of
■''India (Republic), The Constitution of India,
p. 214.
13
19 6 7 laid down a two-language policy (English and Hindi)
for official transactions in Parliament, the central
government, and between the union and the non-Hindi states.
A three-language formula was provided for education, with
a regional language policy for Union Public Service
Commission examinations, provided that service examinees
also have either English or Hindi.
The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution lists
fifteen recognized languages: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati,
Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya,
Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telagu and Urdu.'*' With
the exception of Sanskrit and Urdu, these languages are
state languages. In most cases, they are spoken within
the confines of a particular state, but they cannot be
considered to be dialects.
Ministries
In the administrative structure of a government,
for the satisfactory discharge of all functions and
responsibilities , a department or ministry represents the
2
largest practical subdivision. While India was a British
colony, the government was made up of several departments
which for purposes of better control were with the advent
1Ibid. , p. 305.
2
IIPA, Government of India, p. 29.
14
of independence converted into ministries, while at the
same time many new ministries were added from time to time
as the government expanded its activities in the different
sectors.
As previously mentioned, the administrative set
up of the government of India is made up of several
ministries to which are assigned various aspects of
governmental activities according to the criterion of
administrative convenience. Each ministry generally has
two or more departments, and the minister is in charge of
all of them. Two or more ministries may also be grouped
together and be headed by a single minister. The composi
tion of each ministry depends on such factors as the
qualifications of the minister and the size of the
department and/or ministry.
As an organizational unit, each ministry or
department consists of a secretary to the government;
under his administrative control is a part of the Central
Secretariat. A secretary to the government, who is always
a civil service appointee, is normally the administrative
head of the ministry and principal adviser to the minister
on all matters of policy and administration within the
ministry. He is not only responsible for the efficient
running of the ministry but for advising the minister on
aspects of his duties.^"
1Ibid., p. 32.
15
A glance at the composition of the government
through the years will reveal the extent to which
governmental activities have steadily expanded, resulting
in a demand for the creation of new departments and
ministries. On August 29, 19U7, the previous departments
of the British Indian Empire were redesignated ministries
under the Union Government of India, and the following 17
Ministries came into being: Commerce, Communications,
Defence, Education, External Affairs and Commonwealth
Relations, Finance, Food and Agriculture, Health, Home,
Industry and Supply, Information, Labour, Law and Social
Welfare, Railways, States, Transport and Works, and Mines
and Power.
These ministries are made up of a hierarchy of
a minister, deputy minister, secretary, joint secretary,
deputy secretary, under secretary, section officers, and
clerical staff, in descending order. Each ministry
consists of departments which are in turn divided into
divisions, branches, and sections. Every section is headed
by a section officer, while a branch, normally consisting
of two sections, is administered by an under secretary
who is at times also called a branch officer. Two branches
India (Republic) Ministry of Home Affairs,
Secretariat Training School, Organizational Set-Up and
Fuhc't'ion's' of the Ministries/Departments of the Government
of India, (M-th ed. ; New Delhi, 1969), p.
16
normally constitute a division, with a deputy secretary in
charge. Under normal conditions, each secretary to the
government of India is the administrative head of a
ministry and bears complete responsibility for its
activities. Should the volume of work in a ministry be
considered unmanageable for a single secretary, one or
more wings are created, each under an additional secretary
or joint secretary.^"
At present, the government of India consists of
many more departments and ministries than were to be found
in the government of 1947. Assuming that it would be
superfluous to discuss the history of each ministry,
current governmental operations can be listed as below.
The most recent and complete listing of ministries and
other bodies formed by the President, on the advice of the
2
Prime Minister are those given on March 18, 1971.
1. Ministry of Defence
2. Ministry of Education and Social Welfare
3. Ministry of External Affairs
4. Ministry of Finance
5. Ministry of Food and Agriculture
6 . Ministry of Health and Family Planning
and Works , Housing and Urban Development
^Ibid., p. 9.
^India News, IX (March 26, 1971), p. 1.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15 .
16 .
17.
18.
19 .
20 .
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
17
Ministry of Home Affairs and Planning
Ministry of Industrial Development and
Internal Trade
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
and Communications
Ministry of Irrigation and Power
Ministry of Labour, Employment and
Rehabilitation
Ministry of Law and Justice
Ministry of Petroleum, Chemicals and
Non-Ferrous Metals
Ministry of Railways
Ministry of Steel and Heavy Engineering
Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation
Department of Atomic Energy
Department of Parliamentary Affairs and
Shipping and Transport
Cabinet Secretariat
President's Offices
Prime Minister's Secretariat
Attorney General of India
Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities
Comptroller and Auditor General of India
Election Commission
Union Public Service Commission
18
In short, this chapter is an attempt to describe
in brief the salient features about the country and its
government. This description should provide sufficient
background against which to read the discussion of Indian
government publications which follows in the succeeding
chapters.
CHAPTER II
INDIAN GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS
Origin and Importance
The origin of Indian government publications goes
back to the time during which the British ruled India. The
early publications of the British Indian Empire date from
over a hundred years ago. For the purposes of the present
research study, it has not been necessary to make a
historical retracing of the documents published by the
Indian government while under British rule. Such an
investigation, with the emphasis on serial publications,
has already been conducted in 19 5 3 . " * "
The importance of government publications as source
material for study of, and for information about, a
2
country and its people has long been recognized. In the
case of India, the government is not only a prolific
author but also the leading publisher in the country. In
addition, the newspapers and other mass communication
^Champaklal Pranslanker Shukla, "A Study on the
Publications of the Government of India, with Special
Reference to Serial Publications," (unpublished Ph.D.
dissertation, University of Michigan, 19 53).
2Ibid., p. 1.
media, established and operated by the private sector,
often may not be reliable sources of information. There
may be a significant difference "between what the
government says in our official release and what the
newspapers oftentimes select from the release to
emphasize."'*' This is even more true in the developing
countries where the average reader may not be aware of the
existence of the official sources.
The importance of government publications becomes
evident when one looks at modern-day governments. They
are no longer exclusively concerned with the maintenance
of law and order. Moreover, because of the complexities
of their structure and the various functions which they are
required to perform, these governments through their
publications act as authentic chroniclers of the past as
well as recorders of the present. As stated by Anne
Morris Boyd in her work, United States Government
Publications, "Government publications . . . are among the
oldest written records, and if measured by their influence
on civilization, are probably the most important of all
2
written records."
^James L. McCanny, Government Publications for
the Citizen (New York: Columbia University Press, 1949),
p. 10 .
o
Anne Morris Boyd, United States Government
Publications (3rd ed.; Revised by Rae Elizabeth Rips,
New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1949), p. 1.
21
The publications of any government serve as
important sources for political, economic, legal, social,
and many other types of information. The factor giving
government publications their importance is their
authenticity, since they bear the stamp of approval of an
official body or of the government itself. To quote Boyd
again, these sources are:
. . . the authentic accounts of the world's
greatest explorations, discoveries , and inventors
in every field of human endeavour. They reveal
and explain the phenomenal scientific and
technological developments of modern times. They
contain the history of civilization itself in all
its aspects.1
In a democratic framework, the public has the
right to know and to have access to the records of its
government's activities. Naturally, the government is
most likely to provide this information through its own
publications. The information disseminated in this way
forms channels of communication between the government
and the public.
Since the achievement of independence, the Indian
government has greatly expanded its activities. This has
resulted, over the years, in the setting up of new
ministries, departments, and various commissions. The
expansion is also reflected in the evergrowing number of
undertakings and in the fields that have found their way
1Ibid.
22
into the government sector.
The expansion of governmental activity has resulted
in an increase in the volume of government publishing. The
importance of these publications to the public as authentic
sources of information is irrefutable. This is true on
the national as well as on the international level.
A developing democracy such as India has experi
enced a' vital need to procure financial as well as
technical help from many of the more advanced nations.
In respect of foreign assistance, the government has a
responsibility to let its activities be known through
published sources, not only within the country but also
internationally.
The importance of government publications in India
also becomes apparent when one looks at the ever-increasing'
participation of the state in several areas. The strategic
mineral industries and atomic energy are completely
controlled by the federal government. Business enterprises
such as banks have been nationalized in order to maintain
a sound monetary policy. A glance at the extent of the
government's jurisdiction will show that virtually all
the sectors are controlled by the federal administration.
Some examples are: defense, community development,
education, cultural activities, banking and commerce, ;
public health, agriculture, housing, labor, trade, and
transport. It is estimated that 70 to 9 0 per cent of the
2 3
total information sources at various levels exist only in
the form of government publications.
The average citizen has the notion that government
publications consist only of statistical records. While
this is certainly not true of Indian government publica
tions, the belief may have arisen from the fact that the
government of India does print a large amount of publica
tions containing statistical information, which are
distributed to the public by various means. However,
Indian government publications consist of much more than
statistical records. A random list of government
publications in India will contain a wide variety of
titles in the fields of social sciences, science and
technology, and even in the humanities. Laurence F.
Schmeckbier, a noted authority on government publications,
speaking of United States government publications, made a
statement which could with equal justification apply to
Indian government publications:
Public documents are no longer mere dry
statistical records. Their province is the
entire field of human knowledge and they touch
human living on every hand; their importance
to the general public and to the business inter
ests of the country cannot be fully estimated,
and the libraries are active agencies in
educating the public concerning not only the
broad scope of such documents, but their vast
treasures of scientific, industrial, and
economic information.!
’ '"Laurence F. Schmeckbier and Roy B. Eastin,
Government Publications and Their Use (Rev. ed.; Washing-
ton, D.c.: Brookings institution, HT69) , p. l.
24
In summing up, government publications are of
supreme importance in understanding a country and its
people. Such publications are especially important in a
democratic country because they act as links of communica
tion between the government and the public. The
publications serve as written records from which one may
understand a civilization; past as well as present. They
not only assist in evaluating the effectiveness of a
government within the country, but also among countries on
an international level. Their role in the modern
technological world, especially in developing the idea of
a "global concept" is beyond doubt a vital and remarkable
one.
Definition
The greatest problem about dealing with govern
mental publications is how to define one. The reasons
for this are obvious: government publications come in all
shapes and sizes; their origin is complex and intricate;
they are easily susceptible to change; often it is
difficult to make a distinction between governmental
bodies and quasi-government and affiliated bodies.
What is even more difficult is to formulate a
definition that will be universally acceptable as well as
applicable. A definition that is proper in a democratic
country may not convey the same idea in another system.
25
For that matter, even if two governments are of the same
type, e.g., founded on democratic principles, their
structure and operational activities may be quite differ
ent. There are so many variables involved in any
governmental organization that it becomes virtually
impossible to make a clear-cut definition. In other words,
an entirely adequate and satisfactory definition cannot be
given in concise terms that will cover every contingency.^
It would not be an exaggeration to state that it is
the scholars of the United States, more than of any other
country, who have made the greatest efforts to arrive at a
definition of a government publication. The reason for
this is that the government of the United States is one of
the most extensive publishing houses in the world, both in
the number of separate publications and in the number of
2
pages. Because of this, it would be appropriate to
consider the evolutionary developments made in the United
States, in the definition of a government publication.
As early as 1847, a definition of a government
publication was stated:
^Boyd, United States Government Publications,
p. 21.
2
American Library Association, Committee on
Public Documents, Public Documents (Chicago, 19 36), p. 19.
26
Such publications or books as have been or
may be published, procured, or purchased by order
of either House of Congress or a joint resolution
of the two Houses, shall be considered as public
documents.1
It is obvious that this definition no longer
holds. In the late nineteenth century the need for a
better definition was felt and efforts were made to
reformulate it. Finally, the following definition appeared
in the Checklist of United States Public Documents, 1789-
1909 :
Any publication printed at Government expense
or published by authority of Congress or any
government publishing office, or of which an
edition has been sought by Congress or any
government office for division among members of
Congress or distribution to government officials
or the public, shall be considered a public
document.2
The definition given in the Checklist seems for
the most part to have been regarded as meeting acceptable
standards, no doubt partly due to the authority of its
origin. However, several objections were raised against
the definition. One of the main objections, worth noting,
was that the word "printed" is too much of a limitation.
Put this way, the definition does not cover processed
documents and material that are reproduced by other
• ’ 'U.S. Stat. 202 , sec. 13 (1847).
o
U.S. Documents Office, Checklist of United States
Public Documents, 1879-1900 , Vol~ l " i List of Congressional
and Departmental Publications (3rd ed.; Washington, D.C.:
Government Printing Office, 1911), p. viii.
27
duplicating processes.
The question is, then, what precisely constitutes
a government publication. The closest acceptable defini
tion, which is in the form of a long series of chained
elements, was given in 19 36. According to this definition,
a government publication is a publication:
. . . (1) bearing the imprint of the Government
Printing Office or printed at the Government
Printing Office for the use of a government
agency; (2) or a publication bearing the name,
imprint or seal of a government agency and
recognized and used by such agency in its
operations or distributed officially in the
course of its operations or distributed offic
ially in the course of government business; the
aforementioned criteria shall apply regardless
of whether it was printed at the Government
Printing Office or whether the cost of the
printing was charged to government or private
funds; (3) a publication which is issued by a
commercial establishment, organization, journal,
or individual and of which an edition or
reprint is obtained by a government unit, provided
the reprint or official edition bears the printed
name, imprint, or seal of the agency concerned;
it shall not include reprints which are purchased
by the government, but which do not contain the
printed name, imprint, or seal of the agency
distributing it; the fact that a government
officer or employee is the author of the article
shall not operate to make the article a government
publication.1
Thsi statement, in addition to its completeness,
reflects one obvious feature: that the government's
activities are extremely complex. The intricacies are so
great that one could easily find exceptions to any
definition. For example, the previously cited definition
■Hj.S. Documents Office, Checklist, pp. 2 8-29.
28
does not take into account research reports, for which the
research was paid for from government funds, with the
report itself being issued by a private research agency.
In Great Britain, there has not been much
discussion on the definition of a government publication.
In general, British publications are grouped into the
categories "parliamentary" and"non-parliamentary."
Usually, the term "government publications" in Great
Britain denote publications of Her Majesty’s Stationery
Office,^- although a few publications exist which are
published by agencies other than those affiliated to
H.M.S.O.
With an output of 6,50 0 items a year, H.M.S.O. is
one of the largest publishers in the world. It prints
about 30,000,000 copies annually of its priced books and
pamphlets, of which a substantial proportion are produced
on its own presses. It always has about 90,000 titles in
print and every year sells about £.2,500,000 [$6,000,000]
2
worth of publications both at home and overseas. In view
of this, it is surprising that not much has been said in
the published literature on the definition of a
J. G. Olle, An Introduction to British Government
Publications (London: Association of Assistant
Librarians, 1965), p. 13.
9
John E. Pemberton, British Official Publications
(New York: Pergamon Press, 1971), p. 274.
29
government publication.
Many Commonwealth countries such as Australia and
India have governments which are of the parliamentary
type. In Australia, the term ’ 'government publications"
has been defined as publications issued by or on behalf of
the colonial government and its instrumentalities.'*' In the
same country, strangely enough, certain categories which
would seem to fall under this definition are generally
excluded from government publications, e.g., plans, maps,
2
films, sheet music and blank forms.
India faces similar problems in arriving at a
clear-cut definition of a government publication. In
general, it may be taken to mean the records of the
activities of (1) the executive branch, (2) the legislative
branch, (3) the judiciary, and (4) research organizations
3
which are sponsored by the government. This simple
statement does not really account for all the complexities
of the situation because there are no common factors in
these activities. If, as stated, only official documents
may be considered for inclusion, such publications as are
Zalums , "The Bibliography of Western Australian
Government Publications," Australian Library Journal, XIX
(August, 19 70), 238.
2Ibid.
3
C. S. Krishnamurti, "Acquisition of Government
Publications," Library Herald, VII (April-July, 1965),
83-84.
30
the outcome of a form of research carried out by the
government but published elsewhere, will be ruled out.
Similarly, publications not available for sale and those
without any bearing on the government itself will not be
included.
The definition given in 1967 seems to solve the
above problems. According to this, government publications
are:
(i) all those publications whose thought
contents is [sic] the result of the
efforts of government agencies, whether
physically produced by a government
agency or not,
(ii) any publication physically produced by
a government agency, which means approved
by the government authority and issued
with its imprint.
Normally, the term "government publication"
would include federal (central) as well as state publica
tions. However, the present research study is confined
only to publications of the central government. With this
limitation in mind, the following tentative definition can
be advanced, noting that here the term refers only to
publications of the central (or federal) government.
A government publication in India is, therefore,
any publication printed or processed (a) by the government
^Mohinder Singh, Government Publications of India:
A Survey of Their Nature, Bibliographical Control and
Distribution Systems (Delhi: Metropolitan Book Co., 1967),
p. 17.
31
itself; (b) by governmental authority; (c) at government
expense; (d) at the government printing office; or (e) by
bodies set up, for printing or for processing, by the
government or by governmental authority.
Types
Regardless of how a government publication is
produced, and no matter what its shape and size, it can
never be considered unworthy of attention. One obvious
reason for this is that it must be judged for its subject
and content rather than for its appearance.^
The character and content of the publications of a
government body depend upon the functions of that body,
2
and upon the responsibilities with which it is charged.
However, certain types of government publications will
remain common to all branches of the government and at all
levels.
Further, as a means of keeping better track of all
the numerous types of publications and of facilitating
their use, the publishing bodies have found it convenient
to issue many of them in series. The most usual designa
tion of a series is by the term "bulletin” or "circular,"
■^McCanny, Government Publications , p. 5.
2
Rae Elizabeth Rips, "The Reference Use of Govern
ment Publications," Drexel Library Quarterly, I (October,
1965), 16.
32
although other1 terms are also used such as "document,"
"leaflet," "panphlet," "publication," "paper," "contribu
tion," "monograph," and "study.It may be worthwhile to
note that those publications appearing in series usually
have a coding system, for example, numbering of the issues.
In this way their consecutive order can be identified.
Similarly, Indian government publications can be
put into distinct categories. This practice lends a
certain degree of uniformity to this type of publication,
no matter where they are found. In India, they play a
vital role as information sources in various fields. Not
only are the publications reliable and inexpensive, but
over the years the publication program of the agencies of
the Indian government has increased tremendously, both in
quantity and in scope of their subject matter.
Publications of the Indian central government
normally appear in English. However, certain publications
are in bilingual form, that is, in English as well as in
Hindi. Publications in the other languages are negligible
in number. The majority of publications are priced and
are available for purchase although a small percentage are
unpriced. A few publications are labelled "for restricted
circulation," "confidential," and/or "for official use
^Boyd, United States Government Publications,
p. 14.
33
only." Most publications under these three heads fall
into the unpriced category.
Indian government publications can be broadly
divided into (1) legislative, (2) executive, and (3)
judicial publications, depending upon which of the three
branches of the government they emanate from or relate to.
Executive publications include administrative reports,
statistical reports, committee and commission reports and
public hearings, research reports, treatises, proceedings
of conferences and meetings, rules, regulations and
manuals, press releases, directives and registers,
bibliographies and lists, maps, charts, posters and other
visual materials, and general and descriptive information.
Legislative publications include bills, resolutions,
legislative proceedings, laws, statutes, codes, and
compilations. Judicial publications cover decisions of
courts of justice, reports of judicial enquiries, legal
reports, and literature of a similar nature.
Another way of categorizing Indian government
publications is by dividing them into "parliamentary" and
"non-parliamentary." Using these two classifications,-
reports, proceedings, debates and similar functions of the
■ * " R . P. Saini, "The Problems Relating to the
Procurement of Government of India Publications," in
Seminar on Government of India Publications , Nov. 20 , 1970
(New Delhi: Government of India Libraries Association,
1970) , pp. 1-2.
34
legislative bodies, and acts of parliament, form the
category of parliamentary publications. All remaining
publications are then considered non-parliamentary in
nature.
Parallel with the seventeen categories recognized
by Boyd,"'' Indian government publications are grouped by
Singh into the following categories: administrative
reports; statistical reports; commission or committee
reports; research reports; bills, acts, laws, codes; law
reports and digests; records of proceedings; rules and
regulations; informative publications; propaganda
literature; periodicals; maps and charts; lists and
2
bibliographies.
Like any other government, almost all agencies in
India are required to produce periodic administrative
reports. This is probably the most common type of
government publication. They are useful sources of
n
Boyd, United States Government Publications,
pp. 13-14, lists the following categories: (T)- Administra
tive Reports; (2) Statistical Reports; (3) Committee or
Commission Reports; (4) Reports of Investigation and
Research; (5) Bills and Resolutions; (6) Hearings; (7)
Journals and Proceedings; (8) Laws, Statutes, Compilations,
Codes; (9) Decisions and Opinions; (10) Rules, Regulations,
and Manuals; (11) Directories and Registers; (12)
Bibliographies and Lists of Publications; (13) General and ;
Descriptive Information; (14) Periodicals; (15) Press ;
Releases; (16) Maps and Charts; and (17) Pictures, Posters,
Films and other visual material.
2
Singh, Government Publications of India, p. 4.
35
informal:ion about: the body and its accomplishments and
plans. ■ * "
Statistical reports are one of the most important
types of government publication, because the collection,
tabulation, and publications of statistics is virtually a
2
monopoly of governmental agencies. No private agency can
match these resources, and the statistical data are
presented in many forms and under many different cate
gories. The most important statistical publications come
from the Registrar General of India, the Ministry of
Commerce, the Departments of Food and Agriculture, and the
3
Central Statistics Organization.
The commission and committee reports are valuable
sources of information on specific subjects. Normally,
these reports are the outcome of an investigation or an
inquiry into a problem, authorized by the government.
Research reports are the results of activities
that are sponsored or financed by the government. The
scientific research is carried out in various laboratories
and institutions. Other types of research include field
studies and surveys.
^Rips, ’ ’ The Reference Use of Government Publica
tions ,1 1 p . 8.
^Ibid., p. 9.
3
Singh, Government Publications of India, p. 5.
36
Bills, acts, laws, and codes form the backbone of
a government’s legal operations. Bills, the initial
presentations of legislation, after approval by both the
houses become laws. In case of any conflict, the president
has the power to call a joint session of both houses of
parliament, and the two houses sitting jointly have the
authority to enact a bill into law. Compilations of such
laws made under separate categories are called codes. The
India Code, issued periodically and in series, is a good
example. Rules and Regulations are another type of
government publications used by personnel of each
government body.
The proceedings and decisions of the courts are
reported in law reports and digests and other such
compilations. They cover a wide variety of cases, ranging
from coverage of one state to coverage of Supreme Court
cases on a specific subject. These reports contain
important cases determined by the courts of India with
notes and often with summaries of the arguments.^
Similarly, digests are brief summaries of court decisions.
Records of proceedings are the result of con
ferences , congresses, symposiums, seminars, and other
similar meetings. The most important proceedings of the
government in India are the Lok Sabha Debates which report
~^Ibid. , p. 7 .
37
the proceedings in the Lok Sabha (House of the People).
One important category of publications which is
unique in nature is that of propaganda literature. Every
government issues this in one form or another. In India
these publications often appear in loose-leaf form or as
small booklets which are circulated not only within the
country, but which also play an important role when
circulated abroad.
Another category of publications worthy of mention
here is that of maps, because "Governments are the world's
principal producers of maps. Governments are responsible
for the topographic maps that normally are issued by
survey departments. These basic survey maps are not only
helpful in settling boundary claims within the country
but are useful for military and defense purposes and for
settling disputes on territorial rights on the inter
governmental level. There are many types of maps published
by the Indian government, such as weather maps, soil maps,
nautical maps, geological maps, population maps, and tour
maps. They are of immense value and serve many different
purposes.
The Indian government also publishes many other
categories of publications. Lists and bibliographies give
■*'Rips, "The Reference Use of Government Publica
tions," p. 10.
38
an account of the publications within each government
agency. Reference books such as yearbooks, handbooks,
and pamphlets serve as informative material and assist in
fact-finding. Press releases, which help in the under
standing of the government’s position on current affairs,
have high potential as source material for the research of
historians or political scientists and are currently
indispensable for the news media. ^
In summary, the categories of government publica
tions are highly varied in nature. It is safe to assume
that probably every category is represented in the
publications of the Indian government. In a country such
as India, where most undertakings are nationalized and
under the control of the government, this will not come as
a surprise.
Authors
The following statement seems to be an accurate
description of the authorship of government publications:
Government publications are the amanations
of the functioning of government. Their authors
are the corporate bodies which constitute the
governmental machinery through which the
legislative, judicial, and executive functions
are performed. Their contents describe and report
the activities of these numerous bodies.2
^"Ibid.
9
Boyd, United States Government Publications,
p. 19 .
39
In effect, it is these governmental departments or
issuing bodies that are the authors of these publications,
and generally not the persons who actually produce them.
However, in dealing with these publications, three
difficulties can be noted:
The first is that departments often publish
on more than one subject, the second is that one
particular subject may be dealt with by more than
one department, and the third is that departments
are liable to change their names and functions ,
and with them their publications.
For the purpose of this research study, it is not
considered necessary to dwell on the problems involved in
determining authorship. It will be sufficient to remember
that any publication issued by an agency or department
falling into any of the executive, legislative and judicial
systems is considered a government publication. The list
of issuing bodies under these three branches of the
government will be discussed in detail in Chapter IV under
the head of sampling procedure.
In summary, this chapter contains a discussion of
Indian government publications: their origin and the
importance of the study. An attempt has also been made at
defining a government publication, enumerating the
categories of such publications, and describing the
various issuing bodies under the government which con-
^"Olle, An Introduction to British Government
Publications, p. 42.
1+0
stitute the authors of the publications.
Their origin gives them authenticity, and
government publications are also an important source of
information about the political, economic, legal, social,
and many other types of information about the country.
The discussion of various attempts at defining a
government publication has only proved how complex and
difficult it is to formulate a clear definition, which
would also be universally acceptable. An attempt to
define a government publication can prove to be useful
provided it is limited to a particular governmental
structure, which is itself geographically limited.
In dealing with Indian government publications,
it was found useful to categorize them under three broad
heads, viz., executive, legislative, and judicial
publications. Another useful classification is into
parliamentary and non-parliamentary publications. Any
issuing body that falls under the three branches of the
government is considered to be the author of the government
publication issued.
CHAPTER III
THE PROBLEM
Hypothesis
The complexity of the organizational set-up of the
Indian government has already been discussed in the
previous chapters. The discussion points to the conclusion
that, where publications issued by the various governmental
bodies are concerned, it is a far from easy task to main
tain proper bibliographical control over these documents,
and to distribute them effectively. The frequent changes
that have occurred from time to time within or among the
different bodies in the central government have only led
to further problems in these areas.
With the above conclusion in mind, several sets of
problems can be identified. Placed in three broad
categories, they stand out predominantly as problems that
are directly concerned with the present research study.
The problems revolve around the following factors:
(a) Bibliographical control system: tools
and their scope;
(b) Distribution system: policy operations
and its effectiveness;
41
42
(c) Price determination: cost factors involved
in the production of a document and the
price fixing policy.
These areas can be further examined and expanded
so as to pinpoint the specific problems in each sector. A
series of questions can be formulated, as outlined below:
A. Bibliographical control system:
1. What are the various tools and sources that
assist in the bibliographical control of
the documents?
2. Is there a centralized catalog that
includes all the publications? If so,
what are its scope and limitations?
3. What is the time lag between the date of
publication and the date of its entry into
a bibliographical tool, or tools?
B. Distribution system:
1. What is the nature of the distribution
system for these publications?
2. Are the publications available from one
single source?
3. Are the same publications available from
more than one source?
4. Is the system decentralized? That is to
say, are the different publications
available from more than one source?
5. What terms and conditions have to be
fulfilled in order to be able to receive
these publications? Are these the same
irrespective of the issuing bodies?
C. Price control:
1. Are all the publications available for
sale?
2. Is there a definite policy according to
which the sale prices of these publications
are established?
3. How does the operating system deal with
such miscellaneous factors as correspon
dence, mailing charges, and discounts?
4. What is the nature of unpriced publica
tions?
With these points in mind, it is possible to
visualize the complexity of the total operation. Tracking
down a government publication, and the acquisition thereof,
naturally depends on several factors. Firstly, how can
one be aware that a publication exists? Secondly, what
are the means by which it can be acquired? Lastly, what
are the rules and regulations governing the acquisition,
distribution, storage, classification and servicing of such
documents? The last question is raised in view of the fact
that the distribution of government documents is somewhat
different from that of commercial publications. From the
44
point of view of the government, do restrictions exist in
the areas mentioned above, which may appear, for example,
in a manual or similar guide?
A systematic study, based on these lines of
inquiry, appears to be essential. To this end, the
hypothesis below is advanced. However, it should be noted
that the hypothesis is drawn up to point out various areas
of investigation, and not to be tested for approval or
disapproval:
There is a need for a proper control over the
documents from India in terms of bibliographical control
and distribution systems. There is a need for a
bibliographical system which will give all the publications
of the central government in one single comprehensive list
with various arrangements and periodical cumulations. The
need also exists for a proper distribution system with a
clearinghouse to undertake the storage and distribution of
the publications. It is also feasible to use this body as
a communication system between the issuing bodies and the
receiver.
Limitations
The purpose of this research is to investigate the
existing system, in the terms already specified in the
hypothesis, and to arrive at valid recommendations for the
improvement of the publication program of the government
45
of India. The research work will be rather descriptive in
nature, and the methodology thereof will be discussed in
the following chapter, i.e., Chapter IV.
In broad general terms, the following are the
limitations that have been set for this study:
(a) When discussing the governmental structure,
the emphasis is on its form as it exists at
the present time, rather than as it might be
viewed from the historical perspective.
(b) The study is limited solely to the publica
tions of the central government of the
Republic of India.
(c) It is chiefly directed at investigating the
current operational distribution system and
the bibliographical control system.
(d) In the actual examination of the documents,
the temporal limits of 1948 and 1967, both
years inclusive, have been set. It is
assumed that the dates will have some bearing
on the research study. Since India achieved
independence on August 15, 19 47, it would be
difficult to ascertain which 19 47 publications
were published before that date and which ones
were published after. The year 19 6 7 has been
made the cut-off year because publications
after that year may not be completely
46
available, may not be entered in bibliographi
cal tools, and may involve considerable time
lags in several respects.
Review of the Literature
The published literature that is available on the
topic of Indian government documents is negligible.
Briefly, they can be cited as follows:
A study done under the auspices of UNESCO with the
title Bibliographical Services Throughout the World
includes a chapter on Indian publications. The article is
general in nature and enumerates the publishing activities
existing in India.
A work by Mohinder Singh, a librarian, entitled
Government Publications of India, published in the year
1967, lists all the ministries and their departments
together with their publications. There is no discussion
of the interrelationships of these issuing bodies.
A doctoral dissertation was submitted by C. P.
Shukla to the University of Michigan in 19 54 entitled
A Study on the Publications of the Government of India With;
Special Reference to Serial Publications. It is an
investigation of selected publications of the government ofi
India, describing them against the background of the
department which issued them. Also, a brief history of the
department concerned is traced, and its administrative
47
relations and functions are described. This research work
is a historical survey as it traces the publications of
each department from its origin. The dissertation is
historical in nature and is dated as far as current
problems of bibliographical control and distributive
systems are concerned.
A Seminar on Government of India Publications,
held by the Government of India Libraries Association on
November 20, 19 7 0 in New Delhi included three out of five
papers that dealt with this present research topic. The
three papers are:
1. "Problems Relating to the Procurement of
Government of India Publications," by R. P.
Saini.
2. "Government Publications and the Problems of
Libraries," by R. K. Mehrotra.
3. "Problems Relating to Government of India
Publications Vis-a-vis Booksellers," by
Devindera Malhotra.
The first paper by R. P. Saini points out some of
the basic problem areas in the acquisition and distribution
of Indian government publications. This article also
includes a few appendices that act as ready references.
The second and third articles by R. K. Mehrotra and
Devindera Malhotra, respectively, are written in very
general terms.
48
There is no other substantial literature on the
subject. A survey of the periodical literature reveals
three articles dealing with the present research topic.
However, none of these articles are research oriented and
they seem to have no significance for the current research.
Solely for the sake of reference, they have been cited at
the end of the dissertation in the bibliography.
In summary, this chapter has dealt with the
hypothesis which is drawn up only to point out various
areas of investigation, and not be tested for approval or
disapproval. The areas include a) Bibliographical control
system: tools and their scope, b) Distribution system:
policy operation and its effectiveness, and c) Price
determination: cost factors involved in the production of
a document and the price fixing policy. In addition,
limitations for such an investigation along with the review
of the literature on the subject has been described in this
chapter.
CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The complexity of the problem is indicated by the
vast volume of government publications and their many
different sources , as already discussed in Chapters I and
II. Similarlys the hypothesis outlined in Chapter III
brings into focus the problem areas encountered in dealing
with such publications. The problem areas include (a) the
ways in which government publications are produced; (b) the
statistical records regarding its publications which are
maintained by each publishing office; (c) the bibliographi-,
cal tools that cover these publications; (d) the various
methods by which these publications are sold or distrib
uted; (e) the pricing formula established for the different:
categories of such publications. For testing the
hypothesis, therefore, the first essential was the
collection of data, statistical and non-statistical, on
these areas.
Ideally, a centralized establishment dealing with
the entire operation of government publication would have
all such data available in one location. However, since
there is no such establishment, it was necessary to
49
50
conduct a preliminary survey in order that the nature of
the problem might be examined in depth, which in turn would
help in the formulation of a research design.
Preliminary Survey
The preliminary survey was primarily a fact-finding
one, carried out through analysis of the available litera
ture, and through correspondence with the various offices
of the government of India concerned with publications.
The survey had a two-fold objective: firstly, to generate
a list of all the government of India offices bringing out
publications in various categories; secondly, to investi
gate, on the basis of this list, the nature of these
publications, and the various ways in which they are
prepared, controlled, sold, or distributed. In order to
accomplish these two goals , a study of the literature in
this field was conducted in Washington, D.C., making use
of the reference tools available in the collections of The
Library of Congress as well as those of the Information
Services of the Indian Embassy. Officials of the embassy
were also consulted.
Results
The study revealed that the total number of central:
government offices exceeds 500, grouped under the different!
ministeries, departments, and secretariats. These
subdivisions include: attached offices (participating and .
51
non-participating), subordinate offices, autonomous bodies
(statutory bodies and public sector undertakings),
registered societies, inter-service organizations , and
other organizations. The number of each of these cate
gories is given in Table 1. This list was compiled mainly
by updating a publication by the Indian Institute of Public
Administration,1 the updating having been done by consulta
tion informally with the Department of Administrative
Reform, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, New
Delhi. Other reference works also list portions of these
offices, in some kind of classificatory scheme, viz., the
All-India Civil List,^ the Organizational Set-up and
Functions of the Ministries'/Departments of the Government
of India , a publication from the Secretariat Training
3 4
School, the Allocation of Business Rules, and a publica
tion circulated by the Publications Division, the
2
Indian Institute of Public Administration.
Organization of Government of India (Delhi: Somaiya
Publications, 19 71).
2
All-India Civil List (Bombay: Published under
the authority of the Government of India by the Associated
Advertisers £ Printers, 1971).
3
India (Republic) Ministry of Home Affairs.
Secretariat Training School. Organizational Set-up and
Functions of the Ministries/Departments of the Government
of India (4th ed.; New Delhi, 1969).
Lj.
India (Republic) Cabinet Secretariat. Department
of Cabinet Affairs. Allocation of Business Rules (Delhi,
1971).
TABLE 1
THE OFFICES OF THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Minstry*/
Department/
Secretariat
Attached Offices Subordinate Autonomous Registered Other Miscel-
(Participating Offices Bodies Societies Organi- laneous
and Non-Partici- (Statutory zations
pating) bodies and pub
lic sector
undertakings)
Agriculture
Atomic Energy
Banking
Cabinet Affairs
Chemicals
Communications
Community develop
ment
Company Affairs
Cooperation
Culture
M-6 5
3
21
10
2
1
3
1
1
*The Department of Defence and the Department of Defence Production are excluded
as they do not have any offices under the headings that appear in the table. However,
the Department of Defence has 3 Service Headquarters, 19 Inter-Service Organizations,
1 Departmental Organization, and 10 Training/Educational Institutes. Similarly, the
Department of Defence Production has 1 Inter-Service Organization, 7 Departmental
Organizations, and 8 projects similar to Public Sector Undertakings.
TABLE 1— Continued
Ministry*/
Department/
Secretariat
Attached Offices
(Participating
and Non-Partici
pating)
Subordinate
Offices
Autonomous Registered Other Miscel-
Bodies Societies Organi- laneous
(Statutory zations
bodies and pub
lic sector
undertakings)
Economic Affairs 1
Education
Electronics
Expenditure
External Affairs
Family Planning
Food 1
Foreign Trade 2
Health 1
Home Affairs 4
Industrial Develop
ment 5
Information and
Broadcasting 4
Insurance 6
Internal Trade
5
8
2
4
6
6
10
3
9
8
1
1
4
3
41
13
1
18
2
1
2
1
25
8
2
Cn
Co
TABLE 1— Continued
Ministry*/
Department/
Secretariat
Attached Offices Subordinate Autonomous Registered Other Miscel-
(Participating Offices Bodies Societies Organi- laneous
and Non-Partici- (Statutory zations
pating) bodies and pub
lic sector
undertakings)
Irrigation and
Power
Labour and
Employment
Legal Affairs
Mines
Parliamentary
Affairs
Personnel
Petroleum
Planning
Planning Commission
President1s
Secretariat
Prime Minister's
Secretariat
Railways (Railway
Board
2
4
13
8
2
5
7
5
11
1
2
on
4=
TABLE 1— Continued
Ministry/ Attached Offices
Department/ (Participating
Secretariat and Non-Partici
pating)
Subordinate
Offices
Autonomous Registered
Bodies Societies
(Statutory
bodies and
public sector
Undertakings)
Other
Organi
zations
Miscel
laneous
Rehabilitation --
9 1 - 1 1
Shipping and
Transport 11 8
m m —
. .
Social Welfare 1 10 2 --
1
Statistics 3 1
— —
-- —
Steel 1 6 9 -- —
Supply 1 4
—
---
—
Tourism and Civil
Aviation 2 2 7
„
1
Work and Housing 4 2 4 --- —
56 196 195 48 18 8
tn
Cn
5 6
Reference Annual. ^
The works cited above normally arrange the offices
either under the ministry concerned, or under broad labels.
Quite often the groupings in these sources are not clear-
cut and show a certain amount of overlapping. Thus,
research institutions, public undertakings, autonomous
bodies, subordinate offices, affiliated or attached
offices, and other such terms are used, with further
examination revealing overlapping and confusion, since
each source has a different approach to citing offices
under each of these headings.
Publications
As already stated in Chapter II, the publications
of the government of India offices can be broadly
classified into two categories, parliamentary publications ;
and non-parliamentary. publications. Under the first
heading will be those publications that are concerned with
the activities of the Parliament, while under the second
will come all remaining publications.
The Indian Parliament consists of the President
and two houses, namely the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) ;
and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). There are no
publications from the President's offices which are
"^India (Republic) Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting. Publications Division. A Reference Annual,
1972 (New Delhi, 1972).
57
intended for outside circulation. The Rajya Sabha issues
two publications, a Who's Who of the Rajya Sabha, and a
list of its members. It also issues a third publication
which is an underpriced manual dealing with office
procedures and regulations, and meant for office use only.
Thus almost all the publications that constitute
parliamentary publications issue from the Lok Sabha, with
the exception of the three cited above. Parliamentary
publications are chiefly reports of financial committees,
various bills, sessional papers, debates, and a certain
number of ad hoc publications.
In dealing with non-parliamentary publications,
it should be noted that they originate from different
sources. The Cabinet Secretariat and the Planning
Commission have several publications dealing with their
actual plans, activities, and research results. There
are also five authorities set up under the constitution
which bring out a minor percentage of the total publica
tions. These are the Attorney-General of India, the
Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, the Comptroller
and Auditor-General of India, the Election Commissioner,
and the Union Public Service Commission. The constitution
provides these bodies with a status independent of the
executive, thereby enabling them to function without fear
or favor in protecting the rights and interests of the
58
people. ^
The bulk of the non-parliamentary publications
comes from the various ministries and departments, and from
attached and subordinate offices including those of the
research and autonomous bodies. In general, the non-
parliamentary publications include annual administrative
reports, commission and committee reports, statistical
reports, census reports , periodicals, and various kinds of
ad hoc publications. The leading ministries in the field
of publishing are the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting and the Ministry of Education. The autonomous
bodies bringing out a substantial portion of the
publications are the Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, the
National Council of Educational Research and Training, the
Indian Council of Medical Research, the National Book
Trust, and the Sahitya and Lalita Kala Akademies.
Control and Distribution
The previous analysis indicates the various bodies
of the central government which are responsible for
publishing. A proper understanding of the way in which
these publications are prepared, controlled, and distrib-
India (Republic) Ministry of Home Affairs,
Secretariat Training School. Organizational Set-up
and Functions, p. 10.
59
-ted is now called for. One obvious question at this
juncture would be: Does there exist a centralized location
where the entire publishing activity takes place? This
would also cover the related activities of bibliographical
control, sorting, and distribution. If the operation is
decentralized, on the other hand, the question should be
asked to what degree these various operations are
decentralized.
The publication activity is to a certain extent
centralized, but to a greater extent decentralized. This
comment is made in the light of the fact that all the
printing activities of the government are, according to
regulations, centralized, whereas the remaining processes,
after the publications have been printed, are decentral
ized. According to the regulations of the government of
India, all the government offices are supposed to have
their printing work done through the Office of the Chief
Controller of Printing and Stationery of the Government of
India. In other words, this office is responsible for the
entire printing operation of the government. To this
extent, centralization exists, as every publication has to
go through this office in order to be printed. Beyond
this point, the remaining operations of the publication
program, which includes receiving the publications from
the printing office, storing them, classifying them,
distributing them, imposing terms and conditions for their ■
60
sale, the fixation of the price, and such factors, are
carried out at different locations and by various bodies,
and they differ considerably. Thus there is a greater
degree of decentralization here.
' Among the distributing bodies, there are three
government organizations which stand out predominantly.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat is the sole authority for
distributing parliamentary publications. The second agency
is the Manager of Publications, whose office stores and
distributes publications from many other offices of the
government of India. This organization is directly under
the control of the Office of the Chief Controller of
Printing and Stationery, and it is estimated that at least
45 to 50 per cent of the total government publications are
distributed through it. The third agency is the Publica
tions Division of the Ministry of Information and Broad
casting, which controls and distributes its own
publications as well as the publications of several other
offices.
In addition to the above, the autonomous bodies
and research institutions handle their publications
independently. In other words, these bodies have to be
contacted directly if one wishes to obrain their publica
tions. In this group, the chief ones in terms of
publications are: the Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research in the field of science and technology, and the
61
Indian Council of Agricultural Research, in the field of
agriculture, the National Council of Educational Research
and Training, which publishes chiefly in the field of
textbooks , the Sahitya Akademy in literature, the Lalita
Kala Akademy in fine arts, the Indian Council of Medical
Research in the area of medicine, and the Department of
Atomic Energy in the area of space and nuclear research.
Selection and Study
The study has revealed that a systematic analysis
of at least the major bodies would be helpful in under
standing the nature of preparation, storage, bibliographi
cal control, pricing, and distribution of government
publications. It was felt that a study of five major
bodies would assist in testing the hypothesis and in
understanding the nature of the publication program. Three
direct government agencies were chosen, plus an additional
two autonomous bodies for purposes of comparison. These
choices were made for the following reasons. The
Publications Branch is the largest distributor of govern
ment publications. The Lok Sabha Secretariat is the sole
issuing body of parliamentary publications. The
Publications Division is a major publisher and distributor.
The two autonomous bodies, the Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research and the Indian Council of Agricultural
Research, were selected because their fields of research
62
play vital roles in the economy of a developing country
such as India, and as such the study of their publication
programs would be worthwhile. The full details of these
five bodies are given in Table 2.
In dealing with these bodies, the study revolves
around the following factors: (a) background; (b) publica
tion statistics; (c) the nature of bibliographic control;
(d) distribution system; (e) pricing formulae for their
publications. Specifically, the following details will be
sought in these areas, for each body.
(a) Background: (i) When was the office set up?
Cii) What are its objectives? (iii) Have there been any
changes in its name or in its functions? (iv) What is its
administrative structure?
(b) Publications: (i) What is the quantity of
publications? (ii) How many categories of publications
does it issue?
(c) Bibliographical control: (i) What are the
various means of pointing to their publications? (ii) Do
they have catalogs, price lists, or any similar items?
(iii) If so, are they cumulative in nature?
(d) Distribution: (i) What are the ways in which
these publications can be procured? (ii) What are the
terms and conditions involved?
(e) Pricing formulae: (i) Is there a formula on
the basis of which the publications are priced? (ii) Are
TABLE 2
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA OFFICES SELECTED FOR STUDY
Title Controlling Authority Subjects Functions
1.
3.
5.
The Government of
India Publications
Branch
The Publications
Division
The Lok Sabha
Secretariat
The Publications and
Information
Directorate
The Publications
Wing
Office of the Chief Con- All subjects
troller of Printing and
Stationery
Ministry of Information
and Broadcasting
Lok Sabha
Council of Scientific
and Industrial Research
Indian Council of
Agricultural Research
All subjects
Parliamen
tary Affairs
Science and
Technology
Agriculture
To process, store,
and distribute publi
cations of the
Government of India
To plan, process,
store, and distribute
all publications of
its own and of sever
al other government
bodies
To plan, process,
store, and distribute
all publications of
the Secretariat
To plan, process,
store, and distribute
all publications of
the CSIR
To plan, prepare,
store, and distribute
all publications ^
of ICAR w
64
such formulae uniform? (iii) Are they consistent?
It was judged that these questions would provide
enough data for a useful analysis and interpretation, which
will be described in subsequent chapters.
In summary, this chapter has dealt with the
methodology of research. A preliminary survey was con
ducted in order to procure a basic picture of the problem.
This survey led to the analysis of five major bodies that
deal with government publications. It was then decided to
study certain aspects of the problem, to be applied to all
five bodies, these aspects being: the background of the
office, publication statistics, bibliographical control,
distribution system, and pricing formulae.
CHAPTER V
ANALYSIS OF DATA
In this chapter, a descriptive analysis is given of
the five major bodies of the Indian government responsible
for the preparation, bibliographical control, and distribu
tion of central government publications. Of these, three
are part of and under the direct control of the government,
viz., Ca) the Government of India Publications Branch, of
the Ministry of Works, Housing, and Urban Development;
(b) the Publications Division of the Ministry of Informa
tion and Broadcasting; (c) the Lok Sabha Secretariat. The
remaining two are autonomous bodies , having the power to
organize and to publish independently, even though they
are subordinate to one of the ministries and were founded
by the Indian government. These are (a) the Publications
and Information Directorate of the Council of Scientific
and Industrial Research, a subordinate office of the
Ministry of Education and Youth Services, and (b) the
Publications Wing of the Indian Council of Agricultural
Research, a subordinate office of the Ministry of Food,
Agriculture, Community Development and Cooperation.
In analyzing the operational procedures of these
65
66
offices, the following aspects have been considered:
(a) Background: From the year of its inception, its
growth, objectives and administrative structure; (b)
Process: The steps involved in producing a publication,
in brief; (c) Publications: Statistics on the types or
categories of publications; (d) Bibliographical Control:
The catalogs and similar publications which point their
publications; (e) Distribution: The various ways of
selling and distributing a publication, and the terms and
conditions involved therein; (f) Pricing Formula: The
formula on the basis of which the publications are priced.
The Government of India Publications Branch
Background
The Government of India Publications Branch, as it
is known today, started out as a small Central Publications
Branch established in Calcutta on April 1, 1924-. It had
one retail bookshop attached to it, which was responsible
for the sale of publications. The Branch handled only a
few publications, most of them administrative in nature.
In 1932 it was transferred to Delhi, and in 19<+8 its name
was changed from the Central Publications Branch to the
Government of India Publications Branch.
The Branch is now responsible for the storage and
distribution of all priced publications. It has been
conservatively estimated that nearly 5 0 per cent of all
67
salable publications are distributed through this office.
It also handles a small percentage of unpriced and
unsalable publications, mainly military.
With regard to the administrative structure, the
Branch is one of the subordinate offices of the Controller
of Printing and Stationery, which is in turn under the
Ministry of Works, Housing and Supply. The Branch is
headed by a manager, who is the administrative chief of
the entire office. Under him are four assistant managers
who help him with various aspects of management. One
assistant manager is in charge of administration; the
second controls the business activities; the third handles
stock; and the last is responsible for supply.
The Branch functions on a budget of approximately
3,500,000 rupees each year. The following amounts were
expended on its operation during the fiscal years 1965/66
to 1970/71, as shown below:
Year Rupees United St
Dollars
1965/66 Rs . 2 ,343 ,836 $ 346,961
1966/67 Rs . 2,383,839 $ 334,961
1967/68 Rs . 2 ,822,224 $ 395,823
1968/69 Rs . 2,978,741 $ 417,775
1969/70 Rs . 3,261,643 $ 457,453
1970/71 Rs . 3 ,689 ,186 $ 517,417
Process
The process is a term for the steps involved, from
the point of origin of a publication until it is finally
68
ready for distribution. A government office wishing to
bring out a publication is responsible for the preparation
of the manuscript and for obtaining formal approval thereof
from the administrative head of the office. Once the
manuscript is ready, it is sent to the Office of the Chief
Controller of Printing and Stationery together with certain
requisition forms properly filled out. The forms are
provided by the Controller’s Office and require the
insertion of data on factors such as the number of copies
to be printed, the issuing agency, the seal of approval,
and other details.
The completed manuscript, along with the forms, is
received at the Controller’s Office. After careful
evaluation of the requirements , a government printing press
1
is assigned to do the printing. There are at present 14
government printing presses, and under normal conditions a ;
specific printing project may be assigned to any one of
them, depending on the state of their workloads. If a
government press is not available due to prior commitments, ,
the Controller has the power to invite tenders from private
presses and'to assign the printing job to one of them.
If the publication that is printed by the
Controller's Office is priced and salable, the manuscript
received by the office will be sent to the Branch with
instructions regarding the printing press assigned. The
Branch is then responsible for seeing that it is printed
accordingly. A code number is assigned to the manuscript
by the Branch, very much like a classification number,
which when decoded reveals the issuing body and the type
of publication. A chart has been set up at the Branch,
according to which the code numbers are assigned. Thus
if the code number is CIM 2 * 4 - . 69/400, the publication is one
originating with the Chief Inspector of Mines. The number
24 is a standing symbol for that particular series. The
6 9 represents the year of publication, while the last
element 400 denotes the number copies to be printed.
Another task carried out by this office is the
fixation of the price. This is done by using a set
pricing formula. The final responsibility of the office
is to instruct the press to print the publication, and
after the printing has been done, to collect the copies.
The storing and distribution of the publication is also the
responsibility of the Branch, and in doing this the various
sections, the Supply, Stock, and Business Sections,
coordinate their activities with those of the Administra
tive Section. Details of the rules and regulations
governing the entire operation are contained in a manual
issued by the Branch.
India (Republic) The Government of India Publica
tions Branch. Manual: General Rules and Departmental
Instructions, Part II. (Delhi: Manager of Publications,
1951).
Publications
The Branch, as has been mentioned earlier, func
tions as a central agency for the storage and distribution
of all salable publications. The publications vary in
subject matter, and vary from a house-organ type of
publication to a highly technical work. It is estimated
that more than 30,0 00 kinds of publications are brought
out by the Branch. Over the last five years, approximately
6,000 different publications have been dealt with
annually.^
Unfortunately, no statistical analysis has been
carried out at the Branch. Equally unfortunate is the
fact that no data are available for making such a study.
However, some figures that were reported in the
unpublished annual reports of the Branch for the years
1965/66 to 1969/70 have been compiled and are given in
Tables 3 and 4. In Table 3, the figures are broken down
into two broad divisions, viz., civil and military.
Military publications include priced as well as unpriced
publications. Publications of the Post and Telegraph
Department are included in this category solely because
these publications are dealt with in the same manner as
military publications. Table 4 , shows the total number of
^Letter dated July 7, 1971 from the Manager,
Publications Branch, Government of India, Delhi.
TABLE 3
KINDS OF PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED AT THE PUBLICATIONS
BRANCH DURING THE YEARS 1965/66-1969/70
Type 1965/66 1966/67 1967/68 1968/69 1969/70
A. CIVIL
Specifications
Gazettes
Acts, Regulations
and Ordinances
Other Civil Publica
tions
Debates
Corrections
B. MILITARY
Priced
Unpriced
Posts g Telegraph
1727
1977
92
1219
309
202
32
346
200
1547
2188
99
1596
245
165
43
211
153
1753
3199
81
1418
207
168
81
178
123
1109
2227
96
1318
193
111
13
128
131
265
3406
130
1420
214
264
203
730
816
TABLE 4
KINDS OF PUBLICATIONS HELD AT THE PUBLICATIONS
BRANCH DURING THE YEARS 19 65/66-1969/70
Type 1965/66 1966/67 1967/68 1968/69 1969/70
A. CIVIL
Specifications 7785 11885 7684 8723 8629
Gazettes 3858 2260 2325 2207 2211
Acts, Regulations,
Ordinances and
Debates 4506 3384 3753 3892 3520
Other Publications 9828 10380 10517 10740 11432
1ILITARY
Priced 217 230 307 203 195
Unpriced 4125 2601 2651 1458 1722
Posts S Telegraph 175 109 113 131 167
publications held in stock over the last ; 5 years. A
gradual increase in civil publications and a decrease in
the military category can be noted. It is estimated that
approximately Rs. 100,000 worth of publications are weeded
out each year and discarded.
The total number of periodicals handled by the
Publications Branch is 60. Out of this, 4 are correction
notices dealing with changes in the administrative rules
and regulations. Nearly 20 are gazettes serving various
administrative purposes. The frequency, language, and
scope of these gazettes vary, depending upon their content
and purpose. The other periodicals that are dealt with by
the Branch, 3 3 in number, are issued by various government
bodies all over the country, with the Branch being
responsible for their storage and distribution. A complete
list of titles, with the frequency and the price both in
India and the United States is given in Table 5.
Bibliographical Control
Even though most government publications were
stored and distributed by the Publications Branch, this
office did not for many years seriously consider compiling
a catalog. In the fact of compelling pressures from many
sources for the initiation of such a project, and after a
series of recommendations, the post of a librarian was
instituted in the Branch, to carry our not only the usual
TABLE 5
LIST OF GOVERNMENT PERIODICALS DISTRIBUTED BY
THE PUBLICATIONS BRANCH
Title Frequency Price (Annual)
Indian Rs. U.S. $
Agricultural Marketing Quarterly 8. 00 2.88
Agricultural Situation
in India Monthly 2 4.00 8.64
Bhasha Quarterly 14. 00 5.04
Blue Books on Joint
Stock Company Quarterly 15. 60 5.61
Bulletin of Mineral
Statistics and
Information Monthly 51.00 18 . 30
Central Excise Statistics Quarterly 9.40 3. 39
Customs £ Excise Revenue
Statement Monthly 69.00 24. 84
Defence Science Journal Quarterly 8. 00 2.88
Direct Taxes Bulletin Quarterly 6.00 2.10
Education Quarterly Quarterly 8. 80 3.17
Indian Education Abstract Quarterly 13. 20 4. 76
Indian Fisheries Bulletin Quarterly 12 . 00 4.32
Indian Journal of
Meteorology and
Geophysics Quarterly 36. 00 12 .96
Indian Labour Journal Monthly 48. 00 10 . 80
Indian Law Report Monthly 47. 40 17 .07
Indian Minerals Quarterly 13. 00 4.68
Indian Textile Bulletin Monthly 72.00 27. 82
Indian Trade Journal Weekly 166.40 59 . 91
Industrial Safety £ Health
Bulletin Quarterly 7.00 2.52
Irrigation and Power Quarterly 18. 00 6.48
Krishi Sameksha Monthly 12. 00 n.a.
Mines and Minerals Quarterly 8. 00 2.88
75
TABLE 5— Continued
Title Frequency Price
Indian
(Annual)
Rs. U.S.
Monthly Abstracts of
Statistics Monthly 48 . 00 15.12
Monthly Coal Bulletin Monthly 12.00 4. 82
Monthly Review of Coal
Production and
Distribution Monthly
o
a
E - ' *
17.07
Monthly Statistics of Foreign
Trade of India, Vol. I:
Export-Re-export Monthly 240.00 62. 64
. Vol. II:
Import Monthly 174.00 54.00
National Building
Organization Half-yearly 3.00 1.08
Social Defence Journal Quarterly 8.00 2.88
Statistical Working on
Capital Issues Control Quarterly 6.00 2.16
Supreme Court Reports Monthly 60.00 21.60
Weekly Bulletin of Agri
culture Prices Weekly 15 .00 4.00
Weekly Index Numbers of
Wholesale Prices in
India Weekly 130.00 46. 80
76
library duties but also to assist in the preparation of
such catalogs. The first catalog issued by the Branch was
a consolidated one and included all publications that were
available up to 1959. It contained only 4,527 entries, and
is generally considered to be far from comprehensive, since
it appears that nearly four times this figure could have
been included.
The above catalog was issued in 1966, and was
entitled Catalogue of Government of India Civil Publica
tions, Corrected up to 31st December, 1959. It is
arranged by subject into 11 broad subject categories, based
on the Dewey Decimal Classification, and includes a title
index, a subject index, and an author index. Priced at
Rs. 1.25 each, 11,000 copies of this catalog were printed.
It does not contain any annotations. A typical entry is
as follows:
''864. C.D. 170. Report of the Commodity
Controls Committee, 195 3,
iv, 133 p. 24 cm. Rs. 1.12
or ls.9d. Chairman: S. V.
Krishnamoorthy."
In this entry, 864 refers to the serial number in
the catalog, C.D. refers to the Commercial Department,
while 17 0 is its publication number. The complete title
of the publication is given, and also its imprint date,
pagination, size, and the price in pounds sterling and in
rupees. This particular publication being a Committee
report, the chairman of the committee is named.
77
A second catalog was issued in 1967. It is in
effect a supplement to the 1959 catalog, and covers the
period 19 60 to 19 64. Although the catalog was ready for
sale on August 23, 1967, for unknown reasons it was not
made available to the public until October 18, 1969. In
addition to the features mentioned for the 19 5 9 catalog,
the later issue includes a series index. It has a total
of 8,300 of which 3,34 5 are title index entries and 1,2 32
are subject index entries. Two thousand, three hundred
eighty one are corporate author index entries, 2 39
personal author entries, and 1,10 3 are series index
entries. A total of 2,9 42 main entries appear in this
catalog, which is priced at Rs. 1.25, the same price as
for the previous catalog.
The Publications Branch issued its third catalog,
covering the year 1965, which was ready for sale on
November 6, 1967, having been completed on April 7, 1966,
and sent to the Controller’s Office through the Manager
of Publications. This catalog is once again a supplement
to the earlier ones, and very similar to them in format.
Six hundred thirty one main entries are covered in this
catalog, which includes a title index, with 1,0 41 entries, 1
a subject index, with 645 entries, an author index, with
44 entries, and a series index, with 9 3 entries. The price :
is 50 paise, and 11,000 copies were printed. An additional:
feature of this catalog is that its price is also given in
United States dollars, at 10 cents.
The catalog for 1966 was similarly priced at 50
paise, and the same number of copies were printed. In
arrangement, it is similar to the earlier ones. A total
of 83 8 entries appear in it, and in addition to the other
indexes it has a symbol index. The price is given in
Indian, British, and United States currencies.
In addition to these catalogs , an effort was made
to compile a list of those publications issued between
January 1, 19 40 and December 31, 19 6 0 which, for various
reasons, could not be included in the earlier catalogs.
This was issued in 19 6 7 under the title List of Official
Publications, Not Included in the General Catalogue of
Government of India Publications, Issued during the Period
1-1-1940 to 31-12-1960. This catalog is also arranged into
broad subject categories, and contains 1,183 entries.
However, there are no indexes and no annotations are given.,
Another feature of this catalog is that it includes the
number of copies printed of each publication, the size,
the place of publication, the date of imprint, and the
publisher's name. A typical example is given below:
"49. Report on Reorganization of the
Machinery of Government. Re
organization of Government Machi
nery. 1, 39 plus vi, 6.5" x
9.5". Government of India Press,
Faridabad. July, 1957. 2,000
printed copies."
79
Nine thousand copies were printed of this catalog,
which had a price tag of one rupee.
Apart from the catalogs described above, there are
monthly lists, issued in the form of loose sheets, varying
from 6 to 12 pages in number, and held together without
any binding. The list is compiled on the basis of the
publications acquired by the Branch each month. There is
no price for these lists, and about 5,500 copies of each
are printed for distribution. The form of entry is very
short, and there is generally a time-lag of four to six
months between the acquisition of the book and the
inclusion of its title in a list.
No other printed catalogs or price lists are
issued by the Branch. It does, however, occasionally
advertise its publications in India's leading newspapers.
Such advertising is normally done through the D.A.V.P.
(Directorate of Audio-Visual Publicity) which acts as the
central advertising agency for all governmental offices.
A study of the unpublished annual reports of the Publica
tions Branch reveals that over the last six years there
has been a general increase in the amount of advertise
ments. Table 6 gives the total figures- incurred in
advertising, the number of newspapers in which the
advertisements appeared, and the language of the
newspapers. It can be noted that the number of newspaper
issues in which the advertisements appear has increased
TABLE 6
NUMBER OF NEWSPAPERS IN WHICH THE PUBLICATIONS BRANCH
INSERTED ADVERTISEMENTS FOR THEIR PUBLICATIONS
DURING THE YEARS 1965/66-1969/70
Number 1965/66 1966/67 1967/68 1968/69 1969/70
Number of Newspapers
English
Hindi
Total
Number of Newspapers (issues)
in which the advertisement
appeared
English
Hindi
Total
Number of Books advertised
English
Hindi
Total
13
1
14
36
18
54
155
18
173
37
37
155
18
173
46
46
62
62
10
2
12
75
33
108
141
29
170
12
1
13
242
43
285
165
18
183
00
o
81
from 36 during the fiscal year 1965/66 to 242 in 1969/70,
in the case of English newspapers, and from 18 in 19 65/66
to 43 in 1969/70 in the case of newspapers published in
Hindi.
Distribution
The publications that are available from the
Publications Branch are distributed as follows: (a)
directly by the Manager of Publications; (b) through the
issuing agency; (c) through government-owned bookstores;
and (d) through commercial booksellers.
In the first case, the publications are obtainable
upon direct request to the Manager of Publications.
Citation of the code number, which can be obtained by
consulting a catalog, will facilitate the transaction.
The price quoted is payable in advance. If the publication
r
is priced at less than Rs. 5.00, handling and mailing
charges also have to be paid by the customer. Another way
of obtaining a publication is through V.P.P. (Voucher
Purchase Post) , whereby it is mailed to the person
requesting it, with the money to be paid in at the post
office before delivery is made. It is also possible to
purchase the publication in person at the Branch itself.
In the second case, the issuing agency responsible ;
for the publication is contacted directly. Here, the
Branch is not concerned in the transaction. However, if
82
copies are not available at the issuing agency, the request
may be referred to the Branch.
Thirdly, the publications can be obtained through
government-owned bookstores. The Branch administers three
bookstores, one in Calcutta and the other two in Delhi.
Soon after a publication is released, a few copies are
sent to these bookstores. They submit periodical accounts
of their stocks, sales figures, and requirements.
Lastly, the government publications of the
Publications Branch can be obtained through commercial
booksellers. This is a very popular method within the
country. There are several agents, situated all over
India as well as abroad, who on being appointed by the
Branch act as distributors of its publications to the
general public as well as to institutions. Actually, most j
of these agents are registered book-sellers with ample
experience in dealing with commercial publications. Their
premises vary from a one-room retail store to a wholesale
clearinghouse active within the country as well as abroad.
In order to be appointed an agent, many require
ments have to be met. The applicant has to produce an
income-tax clearance certificate and a bank reference
regarding his credit. A letter of reference from a
librarian is also needed. The applicant has to go through
a screening process carried out by the Criminal Investiga
tion Department of the police. He also has to execute a
83
deed on stamped paper1 agreeing to abide by all the rules
and conditions imposed by the Branch for such agencies. If
all these requirements are fulfilled, the applicant is
first appointed as a restricted agent and is put on pro
bation for some time. After becoming a regular agent, he
gets a 25 per cent commission on all sales, whereas a
restricted agent gets only 20 per cent.
Other categories of agents also distribute publica
tions. There are: special agents (for railways), textbook
agents, State Book Depot agents, central selling agents,
employment exchanges, and foreign exchanges. The terms and
conditions differ with each category. As of November 3,
1971, there were a total of 1,317 agents in all categories,
with a breakdown as follows: regualr agents, 13 2;
restricted agents, 185; special agents (railways), 4;
textbook agents, 377; State Book Depots, 25; central sell- ;
ing agencies, 237; employment exchanges, 329; foreign
1
agencies, 24.
The Publications Branch earns approximately
Rs. 4,500 ,000 every year through sales. At the same time,
it distributes publications worth the same amount free of
charge every year, to many offices and agencies. Details
covering the years 19 6 5/66 through 1970/71 are given in
^Written communication with the Manager, Publica
tions Branch, Government of India, Delhi.
84
Table 7.
Pricing Formula
The fixation of the price of each publication is
one of the important tasks that have to be done before the
publications can be distributed. The price is normally-
arrived at by calculating the cost of production, printing,
binding, and similar expenses. To this, a surcharge is
added in order to cover labor, storage, commissions, and
miscellaneous handling charges. The total amount thus
arrived at is divided by the number of copies printed,
resulting in the price per copy.
Until 19 70, it was the responsibility of the
Branch to set prices for the publications, using the
standard formula. After obtaining information from the
printing press regarding the cost of production, the Branch
would calculate the price and would then inform the press
so that it could print it on the publication itself. This
naturally involved some delay. In addition, negotiations
inevitably had to be carried out between the Branch and the:
issuing bodies, the general tendency among the latter being:
of course to lower the prices and thereby increase sales.
On February 21, 19 7 0 a memorandum was issued to all
the government presses by the Controller’s Office,
indicating that this delay was to be avoided. The office
felt that the involved process was to blame. By it the
85
TABLE 7
DETAILS OF SALES REVENUE AND FREE DISTRIBUTION
OF THE PUBLICATIONS BRANCH FOR THE
YEARS 1965/66-1970/71
Years Free (In Rs.) Revenue (In Rs.)
1965/66 3,416,211 3 ,334 ,881
1966/67 4,037 ,700 3 ,861,586
1967/68 4,018,730 3 ,608 ,262
1968/69 3,851,831 4,013,130
1969/70 4,043,125 4,582 ,344
1970/71 4,662,414 4,408 ,153
86
Manager of Publications would first get the production
cost figures from the press, then after calculating the
normal sale price would contact the sponsoring department
to ascertain whether it would like the price to be set at
a figure equal to the normal price, or at a lower figure.
It was therefore decided to authorize all government
presses to fix the normal sale price and to print it on
the publication in all cases where the sponsoring
department would have no objection.
In addition to the price in Indian currency, the
price in pounds sterling and in United States dollars is
also given. The conversion rate has been set at 36 cents
and 2s.4d. to the rupee. A conversion chart is available
at the Branch.
It should be noted that the cost of production
varies from one press to another. Factors such as the
location of the press, the strength of its staff, and its
capacity, for example, will all play a part in this. The
selling price of a publication may become higher when it
is reprinted, partly because of these factors, and partly
because of the rising cost of raw material.
The Publication Division
Background
The publications Division functions as the central
87
publishing house of the government of India.^ The Division
started out in January, 19 41 as the Foreign Branch of the
Bureau of Public Information, under the control of the Home
Department. The need for such an office had perhaps been
felt by the British during the second World War as a means
of disseminating propaganda material. The name of the
office was later changed to Information Office, in 19 41.
In August of the same year, it became the Publicity Office.
It was transferred to the Department of Information and
Broadcasting, as an attached office, in October, 19 43 and
renamed the Publicity Division in 1944.
Two events have contributed to the vast expansion
of this Division. Firstly, the achievement of India's
independence in 19 47 brought about a reorganization and a
streamlining of the Division’s functions, both at home and
abroad, accompanied by an expansion as part of a democratic*
governmental structure. Secondly, the formulation of
Five Year Plans, beginning with the First Five Year Plan
in October, 19 5 3 gave the Division the total responsibility
to unite the country and to work for its progress through
an integrated publicity program.
At present, the Publications Division is an
attached office of the Ministry of Information and
■^India (Republic) Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting. Publications Division. Price List
(New Delhi, 1970), p. v.
88
Broadcasting. The organization of the Division centers
around its four main wings, which handle (a) editorial
affairs, (b) production, (c) business, and (d) general
administration. It is headed by a Director, who is
assisted by his staff and a Joint Director, also by one
Deputy Director for each of the wings.
A budget cell in the Division is responsible for
preparing the budget requirements, and an accounts officer
supervises the work of the cell. The budgetary figures
for the Division have shown a gradual increase every year
for the past six years, as follows:
1965/66
1966/67
1967/68
1968/69
1969/70
1970/71
Process
The Planning Department is responsible for planning
the publication program. A publication can be brought out
in one of two ways. Firstly, a topic is decided upon by
the Planning Department, and a competent author is sought
in academic circles to undertake the task of writing on the
chosen topic. Alternatively, an author wishing to get his
work published may contact the Department for sponsorship
of his work. In either case, the Division will purchase
the manuscript outright, including the copyright, or
Rs . 3,500,000
Rs. 4,785,000
Rs. 4,190,000
Rs. 4,521,000
Rs. 4,785,000
Rs. 5,281,000
89
provide for a certain percentage in royalties to go to the
author.
Once the topic has been decided upon, it is the
responsibility of the author to prepare the typed manu
script, and to forward it to the Division, which in many
cases provides typing and editorial assistance. The
manuscript is finally sent to the editorial board for
further scrutiny on matters relating to typing, spacing,
illustration, and other similar aspects. Next, the
manuscript copy is forwarded to the Production Department.
At this juncture, a press will be designated for printing
the copy. Presses are classified into different categories
depending upon their equipment, capacity, and staff.
Prior to 19 66, all manuscripts were routed through the
Controller of Printing and Stationery, whose office was
responsible for all printing done in the name of the
government of India. In 1966, the Division expanded its
responsibilities to include printing in the regional
languages of India, in addition to English and Hindi, thus
cutting down the publication time. In 196 8, the Division
was empowered to print prestige publications, which called
for extra care, as well as to print material in Hindi. In
19 71, all printing and processing was entrusted to the
Division.
A press is allotted for printing, normally chosen
by inviting tenders and then picking the best offer made.
As mentioned earlier, a particular category of press is
designated, depending upon the type of manuscript involved.
The manuscript is forwarded to the press, along with the
details of requisition. Proof-reading and further
correction and editing is carried out in the same way as
in other offices. The Business Office is kept informed at
every stage of the production, and it is the responsibility
of this office, when the printing has reached its final
stages, to conduct sales promotion. After the printing
is completed, 25 copies are sent to the Production Depart
ment, which distributes these copies to different sections
within the Division, in order that they may examine the
work and submit critical appraisals thereof.
At this stage, the Business Wing advises the press
on the shipment of printed copies to various parts of the
country. The main stock is sent to the warehouse at
Faridabad, other centers receiving consignments being those
located in the metropolitan areas such as Bombay, Calcutta,
and New Delhi. Normally, a letter is sent to the press
giving instructions regarding the number of copies to be
dsipatched throughout the country. Following this, the
actual distribution takes place, not only in India, but
also abroad, through the appointed agents.
Publications
The Publications Division is responsible for the
91
preparation, production, distribution and sale of books,
journals, pictorial albums, and similar materials, both
within India and abroad.'*'
These publications are meant to provide the general
public with information about the country, its cultural
aspects, the activities of the central government such as
its Five Year Plans , and the progress of the various
development programs. The Division also brings out books
for children and text-books for secondary schools. The
publications are chiefly in English, but a considerable
number are in Hindi, and a small percentage are in the
2
regional language.
Since independence, the publications have increased
considerably in number. The Division issued an average of
60 priced monographs each year from 1947/48 to 1970/71.
The average during the last three years of this period was
30 0. In addition, it publishes a large number of unpriced
publications for free distribution, ranging from 100 to
2 00 each year, plus several thousand different pamphlets.
From 1944 to 1971, the Division brought out a total
of 3,7 85 priced publications. For the last ten years,
i.e., from 1960/61 to 1970/71, a total of 2,681 priced
■*"India (Republic) Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting. Publications Division. Memo. (Type
written) (New Delhi, 19 71), p. 1.
2Ibid.
92
titles have been published. English is the leading
language, followed by Hindi. Details are given in Table 8.
The Division publishes a total of 13 periodicals.
Of these, 4 are in English, 5 in Hindi, and 1 each in
Urdu, Tamil, Assamese, and Bengali. Five of them are
issued monthly, one is a quarterly, and the remaining 7
are bi-weekly in frequency. Details, including subscrip
tion rates, appear in Table 9.
In addition to monographs and periodicals, the
Division also brings out picture albums, picture post
cards, and pamphlets, varying in size, format, and price.
Bibliographical Control
The Division has not attempted to compile a
comprehensive catalog. It issues a printed price list at
infrequent intervals, which includes the majority of the
publications issued for sale. Its entries are grouped
under broad subject headings, and by language. The English
entries include annotations, size, pagination, and
similar details. Periodicals are cited at the end of the
list but are not otherwise arranged in any specific way.
These lists are as a whole poorly organized, and no index
is provided. Supplementary price lists, which are issued
occasionally, suffer from the same defects.
Another list entitled Catalogue of Selected
Pub1ications is issued on an irregular basis, and has an
60
54
6
7
7
8
1
12
9
6
9
12
6
8
1
205
TABLE 8
PUBLICATIONS OF THE DIVISION 1960/61-1970/71, BY LANGUAGE
Lnaguage 60/61 61/62 62/63 63/64 64/65 65/66 66/67 67/68 68/69 69/:
English 73 78 81 54 55 68 84 69 50 52
Hindi 48 49 57 40 33 33 62 36 43 36
Assamese 5 3 25 13 4 12 14 15 11 9
Bengali 10 13 14 11 4 8 7 24 9 4
Gujarati 10 7 19 14 7 6 21 15 9 4
Kannada 13 11 29 9 7 9 3 13 21 6
Kashmiri
Malayalam 10 12 21 8 7 10 7 9 8 15
Marathi 12 8 28 15 4 19 25 16 6 11
Oriya 2 5 14 18 9 8 1 15 18 8
Punjabi 19 19 20 15 5 13 24 15 5 5
Tamil 15 10 22 14 4 16 15 9 7 12
Telegu 11 11 25 10 5 11 14 14 10 1
Urdu 13 15 29 15 8 23 28 15 14 7
Miscellaneous 3 2 — — 2
Foreign langs. 5 6 4 4 — — 1
Total 250 250 391 241 155 237 306 266 211 169
TABLE 9
PERIODICALS PUBLISHED BY THE PUBLICATIONS DIVISION
Title Frequency Language Price (in Rupees)
Single Annual
Sponsoring Agency
(Ministry)
Ajkal Monthly Hindi 0.60 7.00 Information S Broad
casting
Ajkal Monthly Urdu 0.60 7.00 Information £ Broad
casting
Bal Bharati Monthly Hindi 0.35 4.00 Information £ Broad
casting
Bhagirath Quarterly English 1.00 3.50 Irrigation £ Power
Dhan Dhanye Biweekly Bengali 0.25 5.00 Planning Commission
Indian S Foreign
Review Biweekly English 0.75 15.00 External Affairs
Kur u.kshetra Biweekly English 0.25 5. 00 Food, Agriculture,
Community Devel. S
Cooperation
Kurukshetra Monthly Hindi 0.30 3.00 Food, Agriculture,
Community Devel. !
Cooperation
Panchayat Raj Monthly English 0.20 N. A. Planning Commission
Yojana Biweekly English 0.40 7.50 Planning Commission
Yoj ana Biweekly Hindi 0.25 5.00 Planning Commission
Yojana
Biweekly Tamil 0.25 5.00 Planning Commission
Yojana Biweekly Assamese 0.25 5.00 Planning Commission
95
improved format. It includes only selected entries, which
are put under broad subject headings. This catalog is
primarily for foreign consumption and the prices of the
publications are quoted in pounds sterling and in United
States dollars.
In addition, the Division brings out hundreds of
brochures at frequent intervals, and distributes them to
sales agents, information centers, and academic institu
tions in India as well as in the rest of the world.
Distribution System
The Publications Division is interested in reaching
as many readers as possible, both at home and in foreign
countries, since it aims at bringing about maximum dissemi
nation of the news, views, policies and programs of the gov
ernment of India in the social, cultural, and economic
fields. For the same reason, the Division carries on an
extensive advertising campaign. This is also the reason
why HO to 45 per cent cf its publications are unpriced
items meant for free distribution.
Stocks of publications are maintained in Faridabad
and at several other metropolitan centers. They are
distributed to institutions and government departments.
Abroad, information centers, embassies and consulates
representing the Indian government are responsible for the
distribution. Liberal discounts are given in order to
96
promote sales of the slow-moving publications.
Agents are appointed by the Division upon the
fulfillment of the usual requirements. The terms and
conditions are very liberal. Agents receive different
types of commission on their sales. Bulk stocklists who
store more than Rs. 100,000 worth will receive a 40 per
cent commission. Wholesale dealers purchasing up to
Rs. 6 ,000 value will get 33 1/3 per cent. Institutions
get a uniform discount of 10 per cent. Individuals do not
get any discount, but are entitled to bargain prices
offered from time to time. All consignments are sent free
of postal charges.
At the present time, more than 3,000 agents
distribute the publications of the Division. Approximately;
2,500 are located in India, with the remainder in foreign
countries.
Pricing Formula
The pricing of publications in the Division is
unusual as compared with other government offices. As
mentioned earlier, 40 to 45 per cent of the publications
are distributed free of charge. Among the priced publica
tions , the pricing formula varies from one category to
another. These categories include prestige publications,
journals, and ad hoc publications. Prestige publications
are sold at a price equal to the cost of production, plus
97
200 per cent handling charges. Journals are sold for the
cost of production, and sometimes for even less than cost.
This practice is followed because journals are subsidized,
and it is the intention of the government to promote
reading habits. Ad hoc publications are priced at the cost
of production plus 10 0 per cent handling charges. The cost
of production includes paper, illustrations, design,
charges for printing, translating, and editing, and
author's royalties.
In quoting prices in foreign currency, every
rupee is converted at 30 United States cents or 2
shillings. However, a general examination of several
publications shows that this conversion rate has not been
applied strictly.
Lok Sabha Secretariat
Background
The Lok Sabha Secretariat is the leading source
of parliamentary publications. The Lok Sabha, or House of
the People, consists of more than 500 members elected' from
throughout the country. It first came into existence when
India became a democratic republic.
The publishing activities of the Lok Sabha are
not centralized, and are of minor importance as compared
to its other activities. The organizational structure
regarding publications cannot be described, as the several
98
aspects of publishing spread into many sections of the Lok
Sabha, with different sections handling preparation,
editing, printing, and sales. Similarly, there is no
separate budget set apart for this program. Instead, a
budget is prepared for the House and all its various
activities.
Process
Various branches within the Secretariat are
involved in bringing out parliamentary publications. A
branch office desiring to bring out a publication is
responsible for preparing the manuscript. It must also
state the number of copies to be printed, the symbol for
the publication, the time schedule for printing, and the
format desired. The manuscript, after proper authoriza
tion, is sent to the printing office by the office
responsible for publishing it. At the printing office,
editing is carried out and the printing specifications are
spelled out. Next, the manuscript is sent to the press to
be printed. The government press on Minto Road, New
Delhi, normally handles all printing work for the
Secretariat. On those occasions when this press cannot
undertake the project, it is handed over to one of the
other presses through the office of the Chief Controller
of Printing and Stationery.
The price of the publication is fixed at the
99
proof-reading stage. It is determined by using the
standard formula which was explained earlier, and once
decided upon it is placed on the title page of the proof
manuscript and returned to the press for the final
printing.
Once the copies are ready, they are sent to the
Receipts and Issue Section of the Secretariat for distri
bution. From this section, they will be distributed on the
basis of instructions given by the branch responsible for
the publication. Customarily, the R. and I. Section will
dispatch the copies as follows: (a) two copies are sent
to the printing office, along with the manuscript, for
reference and for further verification; (b) copies are sent
on a gift or exchange basis, according to a mailing list;
(c) copies are furnished wherever necessary (e.g. , to
personnel taking part in a meeting); and (d) a certain
quota of copies is sent to the Sales Office to be sold.
Publications
The number of publications issued by the Secre
tariat is small, not exceeding 2,000 titles in total.
The majority are in the form of bills, debates, committee
reports, and occasional ad hoc publications. There are
nearly 30 branches with the Secretariat which issue
publications, and these are listed in Table 10. It should
be noted that of these about 12 are responsible for a
TABLE 10
BRANCHES OF THE LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT WHICH
BRING OUT PUBLICATIONS
Name Quantity of Publishing Comments
Administrative Branch-I
Administrative Branch-II
Budget 8 Payment Branch
Committee Branch-I
Committee Branch-II
Conference Branch
Distribution Branch
Editorial Branch
Estimates Committee
Branch-I
Estimates Committee
Branch-II
Examination and Training
Section
Interpreters Branch
Legislative Branch
None
Forms (Negligible)
Negligible
Moderate
Moderate
Negligible
Negligible
Moderate
Heavy
Heavy
Negligible
Negligible
Heavy
Rules and Procedures: Privi
leges Digest
Select Committee and Joint
Committee Reports
Delegations; Programs
Lists of members
Debates; lists of unparliamen
tary expressions; synopsis of
debates indexes
Reports; bulky and urgent
Reports; bulky and urgent
Forms; instructions
Translated versions; glossary
Bills; amendments
100
TABLE 10— Continued
Name Quantity of Publishing Comments
Library and Research Branch Moderate to heavy Periodicals and ad hoc
publications
Members Salaries and
Allowances Branch Negligible Allowances; bills and forms
for members
Members Services Branch Negligible
Organization S Methods
Division Negligible
Parliamentary Notice Office Negligible Visitors Gallery cards; notices
Pay and Accounts Branch (CF) Negligible Payments; office work
Pay and Accounts Branch (MG) Negligible
Public Accounts Branch Heavy Reports; bulky and urgent
Public Undertakings Branch Heavy Reports; bulky and urgent
Question Branch Moderate to heavy Question lists; bulky and urgent
Sales Branch Negligible Catalogs
S.C.T.C. Branch Moderate Reports
Table Office Moderate Bulletins; lists of business;
ad hoc publications
Translation Branch-I Mederate to heavy Bills; translations
H
o
! —1
TABLE 10— Continued
Name Quantity of Publishing Comments
Translation Branch-II
Translation Branch-Ill
Translation Branch-IV
Works and General Branch
Moderate to heavy
Moderate to heavy
Moderate to heavy
None
Same as above
Same as above
Same as above
H
o
N5
major portion of the publications.
There are four important standing committees which
bring out a large percentage of publications for the use
of the general public as well as for the members of the
Lok Sabha. These are the Estimates Committee (I and II),
the Public Accounts Committee, the Public Undertakings
Committee, and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes Committee.
Apart from these, the Committee Branches (I and II), the
Public Accounts Committee, the Legislative Branch, the
Table Office, the Translation Branches, and the Library
Research Branches are also responsible for a considerable
number of publications.
Urgency of need is an important consideration in
most cases.- Sessional papers, for example, are completed
the same day, since their immediate value is paramount.
The same is true with the various committee reports, which
have to be published before the. deadline set.
The number of copies printed of each type of
publication is strictly a matter of convenience. With
bills, 800 copies are printed, and all of them, whether
Rajya Sabha bills, government bills, or private bills, are
distributed on a free or on a regular basis. As for
debates, 720 copies are printed in English and about 450
copies are printed of any translated version. These
debates are distributed to members, and to foreign parties
and only a negligible number is sold through the sales
10 4
office. Among the four standing committees which issue
reports, the Estimates Committee, the Public Accounts
Committee, the Public Undertakings Committee, and the
Scheduled Castes and Tribes Committee, the number of
copies printed varies from 1,200 to 1,35 0, most of these
being distributed to members or sent out on an exchange
basis, with only 80 to 100 copies being sent for sale. One
important reference publication which is printed and
reprinted in the thousands is the List of Members of the
Lok Sabha, which contains not only the names of the members
but also their permanent and Delhi addresses and telephone
numbers.
The Secretariat also publishes four periodicals,
three of which are half-yearly, while one is a quarterly
publication. The price of each of these periodicals,
including its title, frequency, language, and subscription
price, appears in Table 11. Other kinds of publications
are office forms, rules and procedures, and miscellaneous
ad hoc publications.
No statistics are available on the total number of
Lok Sabha publications. However, a count of the entries
in the catalogs gives an approximate total of 1,300
entries. The majority of these publications are serial in :
nature, as can be recognized from the various categories.
The unpublished annual report of 19 70/71 cites the
TABLE 11
PERIODICALS PUBLISHED BY THE LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT
Number Title Language Frequency Price in Rs.
Single Annual
1. Journal of Parliamentary
Information English
2. Journal of Parliamentary
Information Hindi
3. Digest of Central Acts and
Constitutional Cases English
4. Abstracts and Index of
Reports and Articles English
5. Privileges Digest English
Halfyearly
Halfyearly
Halfyearly
Quarterly
Halfyearly
2.00
2.00
3.00
1.75
2.50
4.00
4.00
6.00
6.00
5.00
H
o
CD
106
following kinds of publications as published during the
1
year:
1. Debates (both original and translated ver
sions), and indices to original versions.
2. Reports of financial committees, e.g.,
Estimates Committee, Public Accounts
Committee, and the Public Undertakings
Committee.
3. Bills in English, to be introduced, also
as introduced, as passed by the Lok Sabha,
as passed by both houses, and assent copies.
4 - . Government or private members’ bills in
Hindi.
5. Reports of the select or joint committee on
bills.
6. Periodicals issued by the Secretariat.
7. Sessional papers (in Hindi and English), e.g.,
lists of amendments or cut motions, synopses
of debates, lists of questions and bulletins.
8. Miscellaneous publications, e.g., observations
or decisions from the chair, reports of
parliamentary committees (other rhan financial
committees), proceedings of conferences of
■*"India (Republic) Lok Sabha Secretariat. Unpub
lished Annual Report (Typewritten)(Delhi, 19 70)
pp. 176-177.
107
presiding officers or secretaries of legisla
tive bodies, lists of members, manuals of
procedure and practice for various branches,
the constitution, the speaker's directions,
and programs of various parliamentary dele
gations .
In terms of printing volume, the same report
mentioned above indicates that an average of 9 34 pages of
manuscript were submitted daily for printing, resulting in
approximately 333 printed pages. During the same
parliamentary calendar year, the number of bills introduced
was as follows: government bills, 38; private bills, 96;
reports of select committees, 4; reports of joint
committees, 3. Details are given in Table 12.
All printing for the Lok Sabha is done by the
printing unit of the Parliamentary Wing at the Government
of India press on Minto Road. Some work of minor
importance, such as invitations, is done at a Rota-printing
unit located in the Secretariat.
Bibliographical Control
Only two catalogs have been issued, with all
titles included, the first in July, 19 6 9 and the second in ;
December, 19 70. The July, 1969 catalog is a cumulative
issue, entitled Catalogue of Parliamentary Publications.
Containing a total of 1,094 entries, it was distributed
TABLE 12
VOLUME OF PRINTING IN THE LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT
Kinds Manuscript Pages Printed Pages
(Approximate) (Approximate)
1. Debates
Original Version 63,748 20,551
Translated Version 66,987 22,862
2. Index to Debates 16,101 1,610
3. Financial Committee Reports 13,810 7,7 86
4. Bills, Reports of Select/Joint
Committees, etc. 1,302 716
5. Periodicals and Other Miscellaneous
Publications 25,217 16,862
6. Sessional Papers (Hindi and English) 76,300 23,609
Total 263,375 93,996
H
o
00
109
free of charge. The arrangement is by category, such as
bills , debates, general publications , and periodicals. The
arrangement under each heading is chronological, i.e.,
the order of Lok Sabha meetings is observed. A typical
entry is cited below as an example.
"33. Foreign Policy of India— Texts of Docu
ments, 1947-1964. (Third Revised Edi
tion) ......................... 8.0 0."
Each entry includes a serial number (a kind of
accession number), the report number (if it is a report),
and the full title of the publication, also in most cases
the year of imprint. The price is given in Indian
currency only, while out of stock publications are marked
with an asterisk. If the language of a publication is
other than English, it is given. Often, miscellaneous
features such as the edition statement, and the category
of the publication, i.e., civil, defense, commercial, is
also stated.
The Supplementary Catalog of December, 19 70
includes 170 entries, and follows more or less the same
format as the previous cumulated catalog. A sample entry
is given below.
"4. 91st Report--Action taken by Government on
the recommendations contained in the 41st
report on Estimation Committee (4th Lok
Sabha) on the Ministry of Food, Agricul
ture , Community Development and Coopera
tion (Dept, of Agriculture), Indo-Norwe-
gian Project, Ernakulum, 0.40."
110
Distribution
The R. and I. Section of the Secretariat, which
receives the copies from the press, also handles the
distribution. Most of the copies are distributed free, or
on a gift and exchange basis. A certain quota is sent to
the Sales Section for sale to the public. In the event
that more copies are required, the Sales Section may
request them.
Five types of sales are handled by the sales
office. There are (a) sale for cash payment; (b) sale by
V.P.P.; Cc) sale against credit bills; (d) sale against
advance payments; and (e) sale through agents.
In the first case, sales are carried out across
the counter, in the sales office. This is strictly on a
cash basis, with receipts being issued to the buyer for
payments. The money collected from cash sales is
deposited in the bank on the same day as it is received.
Secondly, sales are carried out through V.P.P.
However, this is confined to the departments and institu
tions of the government. The postal charges in such cases ;
are borne by the customer. Members of the Lok Sabha only
are entitled to the third method of sales, i.e., purchasing,
publications on credit, for which the authorized amount is
later deducted from their salaries. This privilege is also
extended to members of the Secretariat.
Customers, whether government or private employees ,
Ill
may also be placed on a regular mailing list for publica
tions . In this case, the customer deposits a certain
amount of money in advance, depending on his expected
needs. A deposit account is then opened in his name, and
the publications requested by him will be sent and charged
to that account. In 19 69 there were 71 such accounts,
increasing to 80 in 19 70.
The last method of obtaining publications is
through an agent appointed by the Secretariat. As with
the appointment of agents of the Publications Branch,
several requirements have to be met, and a careful check
is made. Once an appointment is approved, the agent is
given an agency number, the appointment being for a one-
year period. An agent receives 2 5 per cent commission for
selling publications, and at present there are 36 agents
located all over the country. One agent is located in
London, handling all foreign distribution. It should be
noted that periodicals may be obtained directly from the
sales office on a subscription basis, each subscription
covering the parliamentary calendar year, which runs from
October 1 to March 31.
An examination of the sales figures for the
years 19 67 to 19 70, during which the Fourth Lok Sabha
was in session, will give some idea of the volume
transacted by the Secretariat. Sales in 19 6 7
112
amounted to Rs. 48,818.91 for 81,160 publications,
increasing to Rs. 82,550.56 for 172,484 publications in
1970 .
Pricing Formula
The selling price of Secretariat publications is
normally based on the number of pages they contain. Cer
tain categories of publications, however, have a fixed
price, mostly as a matter of convenience. These include
synopses of proceedings, lists of business, demands for
grants, and lists of questions. Otherwise, publications
*
of octavo or smaller size are priced as follows: If less
than 10 pages in length, they are 15 paise. If they are
more than 10 pages long, but less than 50 pages, 3 paise
are charged for every 2 pages, plus 1 paisa for every
additional page. Publications over 100 pages but less than
15 0 are priced at Rs. 1.25, if over 15 0 pages but less than
300, at Rs. 1.75, if 300 pages or over at Rs. 3.25. For
publications longer than this, the branch office concerned
will determine the price to be charged. An example of how
the price is arrived at is given in the Appendix to the
Sales Branch Manual:'*'
If a publication consists of 69 pages, then
^India (Republic) Lok Sabha Secretariat. Sales
Branch. Procedure and Practice (Rev. ed.; New Delhi,
1968) , p. 44.
(a) for the first 50 pages, @ 15 paise for
each 10 pages......................75 paise
(b) for the remaining 19 pages, @ 1 paisa
for every p a g e ...................19 paise
Total . . . 9 4 paise
In actual practice, the 94 paise is fixed at 95
paise. The same prices hold for domestic as well as for
foreign markets, the home price merely being converted
into foreign currency. Payment for foreign consignments
must be made through the Reserve Bank of India, drawn in
favor of the Under Secretary, Sales Branch, Lok Sabha
Secretariat, Parliament House, New Delhi.
Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research Publication and
Information Directorate
Background
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
(CSIR) is an autonomous body constituted in 194-2 under the
Registration of Societies Act, Act No. XXI of 1860. This
council is responsible for promoting, guiding, and
coordinating scientific and industrial research, establish
ing and managing new institutions, departments, and
laboratories for scientific research, granting research
assistantships and fellowships, also for the collection
and dissemination of information in connection with such
research, and for the publication of scientific papers and
114
j ournals. ^
The Publication and Information Directorate of
CSIR is responsible for planning, publishing, and distrib
uting various publications issued by several CSIR
institutions as well as by those institutions collaborating
with it. The Directorate came into existence in 19 51 with
the amalgamation of the Office of the Journal of Scientific
and Industrial Research and that of the Dictionary of the
Economic Products of India. The Directorate also imparts
training in publication practices, documentation, repro
duction techniques and production work to staff members of
many national laboratories and institutions.
The office is headed by a chief editor who has the
powers of a director in administering the organization.
There are altogether ten sections within the directorate,
the first four being concerned with the editing and
preparation of manuscripts. These four sections are
headed by editors, supported by assistant editors, tech
nicians, typists, and other personnel. The fifth section
deals with reference and documentation, and is headed by a :
document officer. The sixth section is a library with a
librarian in charge, while the next three sections deal
respectively with stocks, production, and sales and
^India (Republic) Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research. Handbook (New Delhi, 1971), p. 1.
115
distribution. The tenth section deals with the general
administration, and is headed by an administrative officer.
The annual budget varies from Rs. 1,600,000 to
Rs. 1,800,000 each year. The figures covering the period
1967-1970, as given in its annual reports, are as follows:
1967, Rs. 1,619,600; 1968, Rs. 1,660,900; 1969, Rs.
1,526,500; 1970, Rs. 1,749,300.
Process
The process of publishing takes place under the
guidance of the director general and the executive council
and through the cooperation of various industrial and
scientific institutions.
In general, the process is different when dealing
with monographic publications than when dealing with
periodicals. In the case of a monograph, the topic is
suggested to the office together with the name of the
author considered best able to write on such a topic. The
executive council evaluates this proposal in terms of
necessity and similar criteria. The finance subcommittee
will advise on the availability of funds. At either of
these stages, the topic can be rejected. If accepted,
the matter is referred to the author and it is then his
responsibility to submit a typed manuscript along with
other details such as illustrations. In the case of
periodicals, the specific need is expressed by professionals
lie
and professional organizations to the director general.
This proposal5 supported by statistics,is placed before
the executive council. If approved, arrangements are made
with the financial subcommittee for allocation of funds.
In general, institutions and professional associations
collaborate with the directorate in bringing out periodi
cals. The reason for this joint responsibility is that
publishing activity is a full-time job calling for trained
staff, for time, and for funds. Since many institutions
do not have these resources, publishing is done by
collaborating with the directorate.
The editing sections will prepare the specifica
tions for printing and edit the manuscript. The presses
are chosen by inviting tenders. The normal printing time,
once the manuscript is sent to the press,, is somewhere
between four and six months. When the office receives the
galley proofs from the press, it will do any necessary
cutting, add the table of contents page, and indicate the
price for which it is to be sold.
When monographs have been printed, they are sent
to the stores section of the directorate for storage and
distribution. Sales promotion and advertising are done
at this stage. However, if the publication is a periodi
cal, the press itself will dispatch the copies directly
to the subscribers, and only about 5 per cent will be sent
to the stores office for circulation within the
117
department. It is the responsibility of the Directorate
to provide the printing press in advance with a mailing
list for use in dispatching the copies when they are ready.
Publications
The Directorate brings out publications which may
be proceedings, conferences, symposiums, and other such
reports, both monographic and serial in nature, on behalf
of the CSIR as well as of national and research institu
tions collaborating with it. The Directorate is also
responsible for bringing out annual reports, handbooks,
and souvenir publications relating to CSIR.
One of its major publications, an encyclopedic
work, is entitled The Wealth of India, and is published
in two series: Raw Materials, and Industrial Products.
These are based on comprehensive surveys of existing
literature on economic projects , animal products, and
minerals from 1900 onwards, and it is envisaged that there
will be ten volumes in each series.'1 ' To complete this
gigantic task, some 2,500 information files are being kept
current. The results to date are eight volumes of the
Raw Materials series, from A to Re in alphabetical order,
with 3,0 35 entries and 2,712 pages long; also six volumes
of the Industrial Products series , A to Pi in alphabetical
order, with 16 5 entries and 1,5 25 pages in length, covering
1Ibid., p. 110.
118
35 major1 industries, 98 medium and small-scale industries,
and 3 2 cottage industries. A project is in progress to
publish a Hindi version of the Wealth of India.
Among the monographic publications, 6 0 to 80 have
been issued, distributed among the different scientific
disciplines. The cumulative catalog of 19 70 gives a total
of 79 entries, placed under broad subject headings."*"
In addition, the Directorate publishes 5 primary
research periodicals, 2 general periodicals, and 1 house
bulletin. The full titles of these journals, with
frequency, language, and subscription rates, are given in
Table 13.
Bibliographical Control
The Directorate does not have an official catalog
of its publications. A cumulative price list is issued'
occasionally, which includes most of its titles. Bro
chures , leaflets and pamphlets advertising its publications
are frequently distributed to academic and research
institutions, libraries, and book-stores. Advertisements
are also inserted in professional scientific and technical
journals.
The cumulative price list is arranged according to
the various categories of publications, e.g., periodicals,
1Ibid.
TABLE 13
PUBLICATIONS PUBLISHED BY THE PUBLICATION AND
INFORMATION DIRECTORATE
Title Frequency Language Price
Single Annual
Rs • $ Rs. $
Journal of Scientific and
Industrial Research Monthly
Indian Journal of Chemistry Monthly
Indian Journal of Pure and
Applied Physics Monthly
Indian Journal of Technology Monthly
Indian Journal of Experimental
Biology Quarterly
Indian Journal of Bio
chemistry Quarterly
Research and Industry Quarterly
CSIR News Biweekly
English
O
o
•
a-
1.50 30.00 10. 0G
English 8.00 3.00 60.00 20.00
English 7.00 2.75 50.00 16 .00
English 4.00 1.50 30.00 10.00
English 12.00 4.50 30.00 10.00
English 12.00 4.50 30.00 10.00
English 5 .00 1. 75 15.00 5.00
English
— — — —
119
120
encyclopedias, bibliographies , and symposia proceedings.
Entries of periodicals include lengthy annotations , the
frequency, and the subscription rates, expressed in Indian,
British, and United States currencies. In the encyclo
pedias category, the full title is given and a detailed
annotated list of the contents of each volume, along with
the pagination and the year of publication, the volume
number, the size, and the price in Indian and foreign
currencies, are all given. Monographic entries include
the title, name of the author, the series name, the imprint
date, pagination, and price in Indian, British, and United
States currencies.
Distribution System
The publications are distributed either through the
sales section of the Directorate or through its authorized
agents. At the office of the sales section, the publica
tions can be bought on a cash basis. Advance orders are
also accepted if accompanied by payment. Deposit accounts
may also be opened, against which publications may be
ordered in advance.
Agents are appointed on application to the chief
editor of the Directorate, who is empowered to appoint
them for one-year periods. Agents have to agree to abide
by the terms and conditions specified by the Directorate,
and receive a commission of 25 per cent on their sales.
121
Unsold copies may be returned within six months for
credit, provided they are in good condition; however, no
returns are accepted for periodicals. There are 20 whole
sale agents and hundreds of retail agents, with the kind
of agency being determined by the volume of sales. Dis
counts are also given occasionally on selected publica
tions, which apply to the public.
Pricing Formula
The Directorate has no consistent, uniform pricing
formula for its publications. Instead, the method by
which the prices are arrived at varies from time to time
and with the category of the publication. In general,
periodicals are priced by adding 5 0 per cent overhead
charges to the total cost of production. Encyclopedia
publications have 2 5 per cent added to the production
costs. Regular monographs are priced by adding on 10 0
per cent in overhead charges. The cost of production
covers the cost of paper, printing, block-making, postage,
and labor. For foreign prices, the rupee price is
multiplied between two and three times and then converted
into the respective foreign currency.
Indian Council of Agricultural Research
Publications Wing
Background
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
was established in 19 29 in order to undertake the promotion
and coordination of agricultural and animal husbandry
education and research in India.^ Since the advent of
independence , several recommendations have been made
regarding the reorganization of this establishment to
varying degrees. Major studies of ICAR were carried out
in 1954, 1959, and 1953, all consistently calling for its
reorganization and expansion. The studies made in 19 54 and
1959 were carried out by two joint Indo-American teams,
while in 19 6 3 it was a group of eminent scientists from
three different countries, India, the United Kingdom, and
2
the United States of America.
The Publications Wing was set up to take care of
all the publishing activities of the Council as well as of
its research bodies. At the present time, the wing brings
out a large variety of publications, including periodicals,
monographs, trade bulletins, and farm bulletins.
The ICAR is composed of a governmeng body, with a
President at the head, in addition to an advisory board
and a standing Finance Committee. This committee controls
the entire operation, including that of the Publications
Wing. The wing itself is headed by a director, who is
^India (Republic) Department of Agriculture.
Agricultural Research in India: Horizons and Perspectives
(New Delhi, 1971), p. 3.
2Ibid.
123
empowered to plan, process and distribute its publications.
The director controls five units, each of which has its own
sphere of activity. One unit is in charge of art work,
another of production, the third and fourth are editing
units , and the fifth is responsible for publicity and
public relations.
Process
The process of publishing is different depending
upon whether monographs or periodicals are concerned.
Monographs are published by one of the following two
methods. First, one of the four committees, made up of
staff members as well as outside persons, will formulate
the need for a certain publication. An author is then
sought in academic circles or in research institutions who
will write the manuscript. Secondly, an author may himself
send a finished manuscript to ICAR for evaluation as to
possible publication. In either case, the final decision
lies with the Director-General. Once approved, the
manuscript is sent to the production department, whose
responsibility it will be to have it printed. The editing
j
unit will prepare the manuscript and provide printing
specifications. Similarly, the art work unit will work on
illustrations, cover design, and similar tasks. The
financial estimates for the publication are made by all
units jointly.
In the case of journals, the need for beginning a
particular journal is expressed by one of the research
institutions or by someone in one of the professional
fields. Approval of a journal publication is dependent on
the various committees which examine and evaluate the
suggestion in terms of the need and the budget available.
The final approval lies again with the director-general.
The production department will send the manuscript
copy, along with the printing specifications, to the
assigned press. Before choosing the press, tenders are
called for, with the responding presses being classified
into A, B, or C categories depending on the capability,
equipment, and staff of each. When the printing order is
sent, the number of copies to be printed will be specified,
and when the copies are ready, they will be sent to the
directorate for sales and distribution.
Publications
The publications wing brings out books , technical
bulletins, farm bulletins, and journals. The publications
are chiefly in English, but a small percentage are in the
Hindi language, with an occasional one being issued in one
of the regional languages. The publications wing has not
issued a large number of publications so far. The
cumulative catalog of 1970/71 lists, in its English
publications, 113 monographs (including reports and
12S
and proceedings), 6 5 technical bulletins, 1 farm bulletin,
4 journals, and 3 forthcoming books. In addition, 24
monographs and 1 periodical have been issued in Hindi and
1 monograph in Punjabi. It can thus be safely assumed' that
the number of titles issued each year is less than 50. A
Public Accounts Committee report gives the statistics on
ICAR publications which are shown in Table 1 4 ' .
A total of 5 periodicals are published, 4 in
English and 1 in Hindi. Details, including title, and
frequency, are given in Table 15. There are no other
publications of significance, apart from miscellaneous
works such as advertisement brochures, panphlets, annual
reports, and price lists, all of which are unpriced.
Bibliographical Control
The publications of the publications wing are
listed in professional journals, in brochures and pamphlets,
and in an annual cumulative list. This cumulative list of
publications includes all ICAR works. Entitled ICAR
Publications, each entry in it gives full title, author,
price in rupees, and postal charges. For journals, both
single copy prices and subscription rates are given.
The publications wing makes extensive use of
brochures and pamphlets to advertise its publications among
professional circles as well as among the general public.
These contain illustrations of cover designs; they are
12,6
TABLE 14
PUBLICATIONS ISSUED BY THE
PUBLICATIONS WING
Type 1966/67 1967/68 1968/69 1969/70
1. Journals 5 5 5 5
2. Books 5 12 7 8
3. Technical Bulletins 7 16 10 8
4. Reports 11 8 11 5
5. Farm Bulletins 10 8
6. Brochures — — 5 17
Total 38 49 38 43
127
TABLE 15
PERIODICALS PUBLISHED BY THE PUBLICATIONS WING
Title Frequency Language Price (In
Rupees)
Single Annual
1. Indian Farming Monthly English 1.00 11.00
2. Indian Horticul
ture Quarterly English 1.25 5.00
3. Indian Journal of
Horticultural
Sciences Monthly English 4.0 0 48.00
4. Indian Journal of
Animal Sciences Monthly English 4.00 48.00
5. Kheti Monthly Hindi 0.6 0 7.0 0
128
annotated, and have an attractive format. They are sent
to agents and to persons on a regular mailing list,
including libraries, schools, colleges and universities,
scientific and research institutions, and professional
people. The publications are also advertised at fairs,
exhibitions, seminars, and conferences.
Distribution System
The wing distributes its material through (a) the
sales counter of the ICAR; (b) retail agents; (c) whole
sale agents; and (d) its own office. They can be bought
on a cash basis at the ICAR sales counter. They can also
be obtained by amil, by sending money to cover both the
price of the publication and handling charges. Retail and
wholesale agents can also supply them. These agents ,
usually booksellers, are appointed on specific terms and
conditions. The terms are liberal. Normally, a wholesale
agent has to stock a minimum of Rs. 15,000 worth, while
retail agents have no such restriction. Agents are
appointed on an annual basis, and receive a commission of
25 per cent of the sales, with wholesale agents getting a
slightly higher rate.
The publications wing recently revised its terms
and conditions, making them more attractive and liberal.
As of October 1, 19 71, there were 8 wholesale agents and
189 retail agents.
129
Pricing Formula
The pricing of publications differs according to
what type of publication is in question. Textbooks, for
instance, are priced by adding 40 to 70 per cent overhead
charges to the cost of production. Popular books will have
100 per cent overhead charges added on, while technical
bulletins will have only an extra 70 per cent. Farm
bulletins are priced according to the number of pages they
contain. There is thus no uniformity in the fixation of
prices.
In indicating foreign prices, the Indian price is
converted by multiplying it two or three times, depending
on the category of publication, and then converting the
result into the foreign currency.
Summary
In this chapter, a general picture of governmental
publications, and their nature, their preparation, process,
bibliographical control, distribution and pricing, have
been analyzed.
Each office within the government is established
for a specific task. While some of them have been in
existence prior to independence, a great majority were
brought into being after that date. The process of
publishing differs considerably from office to office.
In general, the number of steps involved in this process
130
are many and necessitate a great deal of paperwork and
labor. There is also no uniformity in the quantity of
publications issuing from each office, which varies from a
few to several hundreds. The types of publications also
vary widely, from annual reports to periodicals and from
audio-visual materials to ad hoc publications.
To call attention to their publications, the
issuing bodies use both price lists and catalogs. The
frequency is in most cases irregular. Each office issues
its own lists, and there is thus no single comprehensive
tool which would include all government publications.
The distribution of publications is generally
through agents, the majority of whom are booksellers.
Publications can also be bought directly from the issuing
agency.
Regarding the pricing formulae used, each office
tends to have its own formula and again there is no
standardization for all the offices of the government of
India. Principally, the pricing is based on the cost of
production plus a certain percentage of handling charges.
When Indian prices are converted to foreign currencies, a
general increase in price takes place.
CHAPTER VI
INTERPRETATION OF DATA
In this chapter, an interpretation of the data
gathered on the research topic is attempted, with the
emphasis placed on those areas directly concerned with the
hypothesis. These are: preparation, bibliographic con
trol, pricing, and distribution of government of India
publications. The chapter is in three parts. The first
part is a general description, the second is a discussion
of pertinent problem areas, and the third describes the
current working model, highlighting its salient features.
General Description
This background is given by taking each of the
following factors in turn: preparation; printing;
symbolization; pricing; publication statistics; catalogs;
and sales.
Preparation
A publication is the result of research carried
out by the office itself, or it is writing done on a
general subject which an office is concerned with and
of which it feels the public should be informed. As the
131
132
various offices within the government have been established
to carry out specific tasks , they naturally differ con
siderably from one another in their functions. There are
more than 5 00 government offices responsible for a variety
of publications. The principal criterion for bringing out
any publication is that there should be a justifiable need
for it. The final decision whether or not to publish lies
with the administrative head of the organization concerned.
The preparation of the manuscript, including typing,
editing, illustration, establishment of printing specifica
tions, and other such matters, are in most cases carried
out within the office itself. Much paperwork is involved
in obtaining official approval of a publishing project,
as well as in getting it printed. No effort has been made
to streamline the process and to reduce the formalities
now called for in the government.
Printing
In the government, the selection of a press for
its publications is a complex procedure. Until recently,
the entire printing activity of the government was
centralized at the Office of the Chief Controller of
Printing and Stationery, which has control over fourteen
government presses located all over India. A list of
these presses, with accompanying details, appears in
Table 16* The bulk of the work commissioned by the
TABLE 16
GOVERNMENT PRESSES IN INDIA
Name £ Address Year Started Place Type Strength*
1. Govt, of India Press
(Minto Road)
1912; indepen
dent since 19 31
New Delhi Offsett and
letter press
2427
2. Govt, of India Press 1956 Faridabad Letter press 1090
3. Govt, of India Press
(K. S. Roy Road)
1863 Calcutta Letter press 1546
4. Govt, of India Press
(Temple Street)
1929 Calcutta Letter press 930
5. Govt, of India Press
(Santraguchi)
1963 Calcutta Letter press 1278
6. Govt, of India Press 1955 Nasik Letter press 1626
7. Govt, of India Press 1879 Aligarh Letter press 1212
8. Govt, of India Press 1924 (Present
shape)
Simla Letter Press 660
9. Govt, of India Press 1964 Coimbatore Letter press 445
*
O
i —1
Govt, of India Press 1966 Koratty Letter press 300
11. Govt, of India Press 1954 Nilokheri Letter press 300
H
CO
Co
TABLE 16— Continued
Name S Address Year Started Place Type Strength*
12. Govt, of India Press
(Sikkim)
1960 Gantok Letter press 98
13. Govt, of India Press
(Rashtrapati Bhavan)
1947 New Delhi Letter press 80
14. Govt, of India Press
(Ring Road)
1970 New Delhi Letter press 473
*As of March 31, 19 71.
H
CO
-F
135
controller's office is the printing of standard forms used
for different purposes in the various government offices.
The printing of publications is only of secondary
importance from this point of view.
Not all fourteen of the government presses under
take the printing of government publications. The presses
located in Temple Street, Aligarh, Santraguchi, Koratty,
and Nolokhon are mainly occupied with the printing of
standard forms. The presses in Ring Road, Delhi, and in
Simla, Coimbatore, and Nasik mostly do the printing of
books. The press in Gangtok, Sikkim, is reserved for
printing in Tibetan script. The press in K. S. Roy Road,
Calcutta, the oldest of all the government presses,
handles government stationery, Geological Survey of India
publications, trade journals, and Patent Office specifica
tions. The press at the Rashtrapati Bhavan handles the
printing requirements of the President's Secretariat and
the Prime Minister's Office. The remaining two presses,
one located in Minto Road, New Delhi, the other in
Faridabad, print the bulk of the government publications.
The press on Minto Road, especially, with its five wings,
turns out a large part of government publications. One
of the wings attached to this press is the parliamentary
wing which handles all parliamentary publications.
As mentioned earlier, any government office
wishing to bring out a publication must approach the
136
Controller of Brinting and Stationery , through formally
established channels. The manuscript must be forwarded,
along with the necessary forms and information, including
specifications regarding the printing. The Controller,
after reviewing the workload of the presses and the urgency
of the publication, will assign it to one of the presses.
Under the present rules, the ministries or departments of
the government of India do not pay for the printing done
for them. Instead, funds are assigned in the budget for
the Controller's Office which will cover all printing done
for the government. Certain exceptions, such as the Posts
and Telegraphs Department, are classified as paying
departments, and these pay for their printing out of their
own allocated budget.
Should none of the presses be available due to a
heavy workload, the printing is usually farmed out to a
private press, chosen out of those submitting tenders for
the specific job, generally the press submitting the
lowest bid. Private presses have been classified into
categories A, B, and C, for the sake of convenience, the
categories being related to the facilities which they
possess, e.g., composing facilities, whether the press is
mechanically or manually operated, its capacity, the type
of printing machines used (letter or offset), equipment
for block making, and binding facilities. Other
considerations are the size of the staff of the press,
137
and the general reputation of the firm.
Because of the recent increase in the publishing
activities of the government of India, which the Office of
the Chief Controller of Printing and Stationery was unable
to handle, the rules regarding printing have been relaxed
to the extent that an office may be given authority to
have their printing done independently, paying for it out
of their own budget. The issuing bodies may select their
own presses from the private sector, through the method of
inviting tenders. Here, too, private presses are classi
fied into different categories on the same principles as
described above.
The paper used by the government presses is known
as ’ 'white paper," and it is obtained by the "rate contract"
system whereby a certain percentage of the paper production;
of the country is set apart for government use. The
quality of this paper is not always matched by that used
by the private presses in their work for the government.
Printing ink is obtained by the government by inviting
tenders and then selecting the lowest appropriate bid.
Symbolization
Most publications of the government carry a
printed symbol. At the time the order is placed, the
printing press is informed of the designated symbol and is
instructed to print it on the right hand top corner of the
publication's cover (sometimes elsewhere on the cover).^
In the case of publications that are available
through the Publications Branch, the symbol when decoded
reveals the issuing body, the category of the body
(whether it is a paying or a non-paying department), the
series number of the publication, and the number of copies
printed.2 For example, DGCIS 13-9-46/690 is decoded as
follows: DGCIS stand for the Director General, Commercial
Intelligency and Statistics, an office controlled by the
Ministry of Commerce. The second part of the symbol
denotes the serial number allotted to the publication. In
this example, DGCIS has issued different publications
numbered DGCIS 1..., DGCIS 2..., and so on, this one being
the thirteenth in the series. In the case of serial
publications such as periodicals and annual reports , the
number remains constant, but the particular issue is
designated by the month and/or year of publication, thus
the 9-46 in the example. A quarterly periodical is
symbolized thus: DGCIS 22-1-39, where 1-39 stands for
the 1st quarter of 19 39, the succeeding issues being
marked 22-2-29, 22-3-39, and so on.
If a book has been reprinted, the symbol "R" may
^India (Republic) The Government of India Publica
tions Branch. General Rules and Departmental Instructions
Part II (Delhi, 1951), p. 158.
2Ibid., p. 159.
139
be added -to the end of the symbol to indicate this fact.
Similarly, the letter "M" is used to denote military
publications, and "PM in the case of all paying departments.
The number of copies printed is also incorporated
into the symbol, being the denominator. In the example
cited above, 690 is the number of copies printed of this
particular publication. The complete symbol serves as
an aid to book-keeping and also as a method of classifica
tion for storage .and retrieval, for instance, at inventory
time. It should be observed that different departments
of the government use their own systems of symbolization.
Pricing
The price of a publication is normally determined
while the manuscript is at the proof stage of printing.
Methods and categories of pricing differ from one office
to the other, with different pricing formulae being used.
Parliamentary publications, which are for the most
part issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, are priced
according to the number of pages they contain. The
details of the formula have already been discussed in the
previous chapter. Prices in Indian currency only are given
for these publications. Foreign customers for such
publications therefore have to remit payment by converting
the prices into their own currency, according to the
current international exchange rates.
140
For non-parliamentary publications, the price is
normally fixed by determining the cost of production and
then adding to it a certain percentage as handling charges.
What percentage of production costs is added will differ
from one issuing body to another, and from one category
of publication to another. Prestige publications, which
have a more luxurious quality, have a larger margin of
handling charges added to the cost. The price for each
copy is arrived at by totalling the entire costs and
charges and dividing the total by the number of copies
printed.
The prices are often printed on the publication in
three currencies, viz., Indian, British, and United States.
This is in order to promote their sales in the more
developed countries of the world, especially the English
speaking ones. However, the conversion from Indian to
foreign currencies is not representative of the true rate
of exchange, being greatly inflated. The explanation
given for this practice is that in sending materials
abroad, extra charges are incurred for packing, handling,
and the like, and this justifies the conversion of the
Indian Rupee at 2d.4d in sterling or 36 cents in United
States currency. The actual rate of international exchange
is around 7.50 rupees for the United States dollar, and
18.00 rupees for the pound sterling.
Publications
The publications of the government of India are
highly diverse in nature. There are priced and unpriced
publications, publications "for official use only" and
"confidential." They vary from small pamphlets to non
books such as braille material, motion pictures, maps,
phonograph records, and microforms.
The publications originate from different sources,
and are issued for a variety of reasons. Complete
statistics concerning government publications are nowhere
available at the present time. Catalogs are infrequent,
are often inaccurate, and suffer from the defect that the
issuing of catalogs is not centralized, since most of the
issuing bodies tend to put out their own lists indepen
dently. It is thus virtually impossible to compile a
comprehensive list of all the publications issued by the
various government offices.
The catalogs issued by the Publications Branch,
already discussed in the previous chapter, cover
approximately 40 per cent of the priced government
publications. Entries in all catalogs total approximately
40 per cent of the priced government publications. On
this basis, it is estimated that from 10,000 to 15,000
more titles were issued by those offices not working
through the Manager of Publications.
The Indian National Bibliography lists government
142
publications in its Part II, under the Dewey system. The
first volume of the bibliography was for the year 195 8,
while the last volume covered 1965. The number of entries
during these years was 18,551, broadly classified under
the headings of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences,
as shown in Table 17. The entries under Sciences and
Social Sciences show a gradual increase, whereas in the
case of Humanities, there is a slight decline during this
period. The listing of government publications in the
Indian National Bibliography excludes publications "for
official use only," musical scores, maps, and unusual
material. State publications are not separated from the
publications of the central government.
Among the unpriced publications are many books,
pamphlets, and brochures from various government offices.
One important item in this category are the annual reports
issued by every office. There are also the many publica
tions which are marked "for official use only" or
"confidential" and are thus not available to the general
public. Publications which might be called propaganda
literature form a large group of unpriced publications
which are easily available from the Ministry of Information
and Broadcasting.
It is fortunate that in the field of government
periodicals, detailed statistical information is avail
able. This lack is mainly because every periodical must
TABLE 17
TOTAL NUMBER OF GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS CITED IN THE INDIAN
NATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY: COMPILED AND ARRANGED
BY SUBJECT FOR THE YEARS 19 5 8-1965
1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965
Sciences 470 451 537 660 469 645 622 630
Social Sciences 1,269 1,474 1,308 1,825 1,779 1,881 1,641 1,268
Humanities 200 210 132 293 226 225 188 158
Total 1,939 2,135 1,977 2,778 2,474 2,751 2,451 2,056
8 +il
be registered with the Registrar of Newspapers , under the
Press and Registrations Book Act. The 14-th Report of the
Registrar of Newspapers lists 224 periodicals issued by
the Central Government in 19 70. Of these, 14 are weeklies,
19 are biweeklies, 100 are monthly publications, 64 are
quarterly, 22 are bimonthly or half-yearly, and 5 are
annual. Tables 18 and 19 give these periodicals on the
basis of their subject matter and language.
Out of the total of 2 24, 140 periodicals are
published in Delhi alone, and the rest as follows: West
Bengal, 28; Maharashtra, 17; Uttar Pradesh, 11; Tamil
Nadu, 9; Andhra Pradesh, 5; Kerala, 3; Mysore, 2; Bihar,
2; and Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Panjab,
Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh, one each.
Catalogs
The fundamental objective of bibliographical
control is to provide answers to three basic questions.
These questions are: (a) What publications have been
brought out in the past? (b) What publications are
available at present? (c) What publications will be
available in the future?
In general, the catalogs and other bibliographic
tools of the government of Indai offices fall far below
professional standards. Many of them are price lists,
unscientifically arranged. The only catalog which can
145
TABLE 18
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA PERIODICALS, BY SUBJECT
Subject Years
1969 1970
News and Current Affairs 14 15
Social Welfare 13 15
Agriculture and Animal
Husbandry 20 21
Transport and Communication 3 7 37
Commerce and Industry 31 2 0
Education 12 12
Literary and Cultural 12 12
Radio and Music 2 2 2 2
Engineering and Technology 20' 21
Science 2 3 2 3
Medicine and Health 10 10
Labour 3 2
Finance and Economics 3 2
Law and Public Administration 4 5
Art 3 3
Children 2 1
Religion and Philosophy
Insurance, Banking, and
Cooperation 2 3
Total 221 204
146
TABLE 19
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA PERIODICALS, BY LANGUAGE
Language Years
1969 1970
English 145 143
Hindi 30 31
Assamese 1 1
Bengali 4 6
Guj arati 1 1
Kannada 1 1
Malayalam 2 2
Marathi 1 1
Oriya
— 2
Punjabi 2 2
Sanskrit — —
Sindhi — —
Tamil 3 3
Telegu 3 3
Urdu 3 3
Bilingual 9 10
Multilingual 2 3
Others 14 12
Total 221 224
147
be considered at least semi-professional is the one
issued by the Manager of Publications, which has been
described in detail in the preceding chapter. Even this,
however, is in no way comparable with either the H.M.S.O.
Publications in the United Kingdom or the United States
Monthly Catalog in terms of standard and quality.
It has been pointed out above that the publications
of the government of India fall into four different cate
gories, namely, (a) for official use only, (b) confiden
tial, Cc) not for sale, (d) priced and salable. All the
catalogs and price lists of the different government
offices deal exclusively with the fourth category of
priced and salable publications, with no effort being made
to include the other types. Paradoxically, the most
informative type of material is to be found in the first
three categories of publications, and it seems unfair to
deprive readers of their benefit.'*' In this regard, the
government of India has unnecessarily created a privileged
class of users of such publications, violating the spirit
2
of a democracy.
The Indian National Bibliography does to some
extent group the publications of the government together,
■*"Goel, N. K. "Better Sale of Government Publica
tions: A Corporation Suggested," Yojana, V (December 10,
1961), p. 19.
2Ibid.
148
and for this reason it is an important source. It is a
government publication itself, being compiled by the
professional staff of the Central Reference Library. Part
II of the Bibliography includes a listing of government
publications, covering central government as well as state
government publications, but not including those designated
’ ’ for official use only." Also excluded are publications
such as musical scores, maps, periodicals, newspapers,
keys and guides to textbooks, ephemeral material such as
trade catalogs and telephone directories, reports,
financial statements, and publicity pamphlets.1 The
arrangement is based on the 16th edition of the Dewey
Decimal Classification, giving the class number, author’s
name, full title, place of publication, publisher, year
of publication, pages, kinds of illustration, size, nature
of binding, price, series, and annotations, wherever
necessary.2
Under each subject, the entries are arranged
alphabetically by the name of the author. There are also
index entries for distinctive titles, editors, commenta
tors, compilers, translators, and for the series.
The bibliography, although professionally
1
National Library. Central Reference Library,
Calcutta. Indian National Bibliography (October, 1968),
p. vi.
2Ibid.
149
acceptable, is of little use in terms of keeping current.
It was started in 19 5 8 with monthly issues and annual
cumulative issues, and the last annual volume, released in
196 8, covers publications issued in 19 64. Many monthly
issues have been omitted, and this catalog seems to suffer
from a lack of administration in the office concerned.
Two other sources exist, which are not themselves
products of the government offices , but which are sources
for locating government publications. They are: (a)
Indian Books in Print, and (b) Accessions List of the
American Libraries Book Procurement Center. The first, a
publication of the Indian Bureau of Bibliographies in
Delhi, is a select bibliography of English language books
published in India, among which are included some
government publications. The first volume of this title,
published in 1969, covered the period 1955-1967, while the
second volume was published in 19 72.
The Accessions List is one of the results of the
P.L. 4 80 Project which has been in operation in India
since 1962. This lists reports all acquisitions made in
India under the project, and includes a good percentage of
government publications. The list is issued monthly, with
quarterly, semi-annual and annual cumulations, with
government publications being marked with an asterisk.
It contains convenient indexes such as a title index and
a subject index. The arrangement is by author, and
150
includes the full title, publisher, place of publication,
and imprint date; also some indication of the subject
matter. It is an accurate and up-to-date list, and is
issued with great regularity.
Distribution
In general, the government of India priced
publications are sold in the following ways: (a) directly
by the issuing agency; (b) through government-owned
bookstores; and (c) through commercial booksellers. When
buying directly from the issuing agency, customers have
to remit the necessary amount to the office; however, there
is no uniform policy and while some offices send their
publications postage paid, some demand that postal charges
be also paid by the customer. Sometimes, postal charges
are payable only if the order falls below a certain
minimum amount. However, much correspondence is involved
in order to find out the correct amount to be sent in each
case.
Secondly, publications can be obtained from
bookstores owned by the government. Major government
distributors such as the Manager of Publications and the
Publications Division have opened bookstores in convenient
metropolitan centers. After a publication is released,
some copies are automatically sent to these stores for
sale. Similarly, the State Governments have established
151
information centers which will assist in the acquisition
of central government publications. These bookstores are
run on the same lines as commercial stores, keeping
regular store hours.
The most popular method of distributing government
publications in India is through commercial booksellers.
These booksellers, termed agents, are appointed by the
respective offices for the distribution of their publica
tions. The terms and conditions on which they are appoint
ed vary from one issuing body to another.
There are two types of agents: wholesale agents
and retail agents. The category into which each agent
falls is determined mainly by the capacity of the bookstore
to store and sell publications. Wholesale agents are only
a few in number, whereas retail agents are to be found in
the hundreds all over the country. They get a fixed
commission on their sales, wholesalers getting anywhere
from 25 to 35 per cent, while retail agents get from 20 to
25 per cent depending upon the government office.
Unpriced publications cannot be obtained by the
general public, except for the type which might be called
propaganda literature. Certain publications such as
printed annual reports are available for consultation in
the large public and university libraries.
152
General Discussion
Indian government publications can be broadly
divided into two groups: parliamentary and non-parliamen-
tary. Parliamentary publications are those resulting
from the activities of both the Houses of Parliament: the
Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The Lok Sabha is respon
sible for almost all the parliamentary publications, and
only three titles are published through the Rajya Sabha.
Non-parliamentary publications exhibit a greater
variety and complexity. They originate from different
sources and indicate a high degree of decentralization.
The publications may be issued by any one of the ministries
or departments of the government of India, or by one of
the attached or subordinate offices. The publications may
also be the result of research carried out at research
institutions financed by the government, such as the
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Indian
Council of Agricultural Research, the Indian Council of
Medical Research, the Defence Research and Development
Organization, and the Atomic Energy Commission. Similarly,
publications may be the result of hundreds of research
programs carried out in the various institutions attached
to different ministries and departments.
Some institutes such as the Forest Research
Institute function directly under the ministry concerned,
while others like the rubber, coffee, and silk research
153
institutes, or the Indian Standards Institution, are
autonomous organizations functioning under the overall
supervision of the ministry concerned.'*" Similarly, the
Minstry or Department of Agriculture, Commerce, Education,
Family Planning, Food, Foreign Trade, Health, Housing,
Industrial Development, International Trade, Irrigation
and Power, Petrochemicals, Mines and Metals, Railways,
Steel and Heavy Engineering, have research institutions
2
attached which also bring out publications.
For dealing with their publications, the major
issuing bodies are generally equipped with staff for
editing, production, art work, and business affairs.
Editing work done on mnauscripts ranges from marginal to
exhaustive, even to the rewriting of certain portions.
The work involves editing of the text, consultation of
reference sources to check data, rearrangement of data, if
necessary, rewriting legends and captions, selection of
illustration, preparation of indexes and bibliographies,
"*"Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre.
The Directory of Scientific Research Institutions in
India, 19 69. Edited by T. S’ ! Rajagopalan and R.
Satyanarayana (Delhi, 1969), p. 213.
2Ibid.
3
India (Republic) Lok Sabha Secretariat. Public
Accounts Committee. Report No. 29 4 - ; Audit Reports of
the Accounts of the Indian Council of Agricultural
Research for the years 1966/67 , 1967/68 and 1968/69.
(New Delhi, 1970), p. 100.
15 4
and scrutiny of galley proofs. An editor or assistant
editor normally handles about 1,20 0 pages of manuscript
monthly.^
The production unit of each office inspects the
presses and approves a specific one for the printing of
the manuscript. It is also responsible for indicating the
specifications and the format of publications, for inviting
bids and making the final selection, for reviewing con
tracts, for fixing the sale price, for examination of
illustrations for the making of printing blocks, for
correspondence with the press concerned, for the checking
of bills, for the preparation of printing schemes, and for
2
the purchase, storage, and distribution of paper.
The various art sections are responsible for
preparing the illustrations and for checking them for
I
reproduction. Similarly, the business units take care of
publicity and sales promotion, and for the actual
distribution of the publications.
The strength of the staff in these areas depends
upon the size of the organization and on the number of its
publications. There is a general complaint in the
offices that they are understaffed with regard to carrying
on publication work.
1Ibid.
2Ibid.
Publications
In terms of quantity and categories of publica
tions, the parliamentary type is weaker, since
parliamentary publications are few in number and more
centralized in production, storage, and distribution. The
funds for parliamentary publications are santioned without
question, and the business of production is distributed
among various sections of the Parliament. The publications
of the parliament include debates ; reports of Financial
Committees (such as the Estimation Committee, Public
Accounts Committee, Public Undertakings Committee); bills
in English, to be introduced, as introduced, as passed by
the Lok Sabha, as passed by both Houses, and assent
copies; government and private members' bills in Hindi;
reports of select and joint committees on bills;
periodicals; sessional papers in English as well as in
Hindi; lists of businesses, lists of questions, and
bulletins; reports of parliamentary committees other than
financial committees; proceedings of conferences of
presiding officers or secretaries of legislative bodies;
lists of members; procedure and practice of various
branches; manuals of business and procedure; the Constitu
tion; directions by the Speaker; programs of various
parliamentary delegations; and other ad hoc publications.
Non-parliamentary publications vary considerably.
Ministries and departments such as those of Railways and :
156
Education bring out publications pertinent to their fields.
In general, the following categories can be recognized:
annual administrative reports: commission and committee
reports ; statistical reports; census reports ; legal publi
cations ; propaganda literature; rules and regulations;
papers of symposiums, seminars, and conferences; periodi
cals; maps, charts, and other audio-visual material;
yearbooks , handbooks, directories, and gazetteers;
reports of research projects and of research institutions;
pamphlets; and ad hoc publications.
Printing
The printing of government publications is
generally done through the Chief Controller of Printing
and Stationery. This office has been set up as a service
department, and the entire expenditure on paper, station
ery , printing and similar work concerned with publications
and forms for the entire government appears centrally in
the budget of this office. Certain departments are
excluded, and pay for their own printing from their
respective budgets, viz., Posts and Telegraphs, Railways,
and Defense, which are termed "paying" departments, while
all the others are termed "non-paying."
For the Controller's Office, the printing of
government publications is a minor task compared to its
main preoccupation, which is the printing of the millions
157
of standard forms used every day in the different offices
of the government. The printing of these forms is done at
government presses only, so that most of the printing time
of these presses is taken up with this, and other
publications are put at a lower priority.
The centralization and heavy workload means that
the government presses are rarely available for the
printing of government publications, for which private
presses are selected through tenders. Even so, the time
schedules for printing are not strictly enforced, and
there are serious delays in printing, both in the govern
ment presses as well as with private printers.'*' In many
cases, the delays are so serious that the publication is
out of date by the time it appears, or has lost its
2
usefulness m some other way.
The delay in government printing is attributed to
the fact that whenever there is a rush job to be done for
priority work, other types of printing are laid aside. A
committee established to investigate wast in government
expenditure has suggested that in order to avoid such
Mohan Rao, V. S. Books in Science and Tech
nology; A Report in Publishing, Printing, and Demand
(New Delhi: National Book Trust, 1971)7 P* 3 7.
2
India (Republic) Lok Sabha Secretariat. Public
Accounts Committee. 34th Report; Wasteful Expenditures
on Government Publications (New Delhi, 1968) , p. 14.
158
delays, whenever printing work is required on a priority
basis, the government department concerned should be
charged a higher rate, or a surcharge, varying in relation
to the urgency of the work and the extent of dislocation
arising on its account in the normal work of the press.^
The same committee felt that at the same time the govern
ment should make its presses liable to penalties for
2
unwarranted delays in printing.
In general, little quality work is to be seen in
government of India publications. This may be due to the
lack of good quality paper, the absence of modern binding
methods, and the lack of trained personnel. Thus while
the contents of the publications may be of value, their
appearance is unattractive. The covers used in binding
are of poor quality and are generally a dull bluish-gray
in color. The binding itself is of inferior quality. The
ink used for printing is usually of poor quality, since
it is obtained by inviting tenders and then selecting the
lowest bid submitted, a method which usually means that
high quality ink will not be used. Thus government print- ;
ing is in the end only utilitarian work, and not quality
work.
Serious defects in government of India publications*
'''Ibid. , p. 4.
2Ibid.
159
have been pointed out, i.e., in the physical make-up. For1
instance, the India Code, which appears in loose-leaf
*
* 1 m
form, shows no consistency. Other ipublications have been
reported as having the wrong covers , wrong symbols, wrong
spines, and pages missing or misnumbered. Many publica
tions suffer from physical damage and from innumerable
printing mistakes. Numerous examples have been pointed
out by users of the publications.
Of late, a general tendency can be seen among the
government offices to break away from the centralized
government printing system and to have their publications
printed elsewhere, where they have a choice of papers , inks,,
bindings, and other such factors. Autonomous bodies have
been given this privilege from the very outset, without
going through the Controller’s office. Other offices have
obtained permission to get their prestige publications
printed on their own, without dealing with the Controller’s;
office. Gradually, the government’offices tend to drift
away from the government printing facilities in order to
achieve an improvement in the physical quality of their
publications.
Wastage
Because of the general practice of overprinting,
wastage of funds is prevalent in almost all the ministries
160
and departments of the government of India. This is the
result of habitually placing orders for copies in excess
of the actual requirements, resulting in storage problems
which in turn later necessitates extensive weeding. A
report written by the Committee on Promotion of Sales of
Publications in 1969/70 listed thousands of titles, that
are held in stock at the publications Branch. The report
dealt with various details of the titles published by
different offices of the government of India that were sent
to the Manager of Publications for sales and distribution.
The publication titles are in the English and Hindi.
languages. Other details on the titles included the
number of copies of each title received at the Branch,
sales in the previous two years ending on 8-31-1969, and
the present stock evaluated in Indian rupees.
Similar investigations have been conducted in
other departments and in some autonomous organizations.
An audit inquiry into the publications of the Indian
Council of Agricultural Research called for an explanation :
for printing three times the number of copies sold
2
annually.
Print orders placed by the departments are
generally based on the experience of previous demand and
1Ibid., p. 1.
2
India (Republic) Lok Sabha Secretariat. Public
Accounts Committee. Report No. 29H, p. 90.
161
by estimating future demand for the publications.
According to the present rules, the Office of the Chief
Controller of Printing and Stationery handles all the
printing; it also bears the cost of the printing, including
material and labor, for which it is provided with a central
budget. This centralization of printing activity and
funding is believed to be one of the reasons why the
issuing bodies habitually order many more copies of the
publications than is actually needed. The resulting
overprinting and heavy accumulation of stocks obviously
constitutes a wast of public funds.
A committee established to study this aspect of
wasteful expenditures suggested that if all the ministries
and departments are made to bear the costs of their
respective publications out of their own budgets , it would ;
effectively cut down the tendency towards reckless over
printing and unnecessary expenditure.^" This would mean a
decentralization in terms of budgeting, with financial
provision being made for each issuing department to pay
for the printing of its own publications. This in turn
could result- in a heavy increase of accounting duties, in
the ministries, in the Controller’s office, and to some
extent also in the Directorate of Audio-Visual Publicity
■^India (Republic) Lok Sabha Secretariat. Public
Accounts Committee. 3M-th Report. , p. 16.
162
and the Publications Division, as well as in various
accounting offices in the government.^ A further sugges
tion was made that departments whose annual expenditure is
2
over Rs. 500,000 be regarded as "paying departments."
As a result, effective from April 1, 1969, the
following departments were to provide funds from their
own budgets for printing work. These are: the Ministries
of Education, External Affairs, Finance, Food, Agriculture,
Community Development and Cooperation, Health, Family
Planning and Urban Development, Information and Broad
casting, Works, Housing and Supply, the Indian Audits and
Accounts Department, and the Rajya Sabha Secretariat.
The Committee has also suggested that only the
minimum number of copies needed should be printed of each
publication, with the printers being asked to keep the
composed type-metal intact for some time after the date
of publication, in order that it can later be decided
3
whether the full print order should be executed.
Howeyer, it is felt that asking the printers to do this
"^India (Republic) Lok1 " Sabha Secretariat. Public
Accounts Committee. ' M-5th Report: Action Taken by
'6'oVefnme'nt' on the' Recommendations of the Public Accounts
Committee Contained in their 3^tli Report on Wasteful
Expenditure' oh Government Publications (llew Delhi, T96 9) ,
p. 2.
2Ibid.
3
India (Republic) Lok Sabha Secretariat. Public
Accounts Committee. 3*4th Report, p. 16.
163
would mean additional costs.
Other reasons contributing to wastage are costly
production, delays in printing, and overpricing of
publications. It is generally recognized that government
printing costs are higher than normal. Overpricing of
publications results from the lack of a rational, uniform,
consistent pricing policy for all government publications.
In addition, schedules for printing are not strictly
enforced, leading to time-lags. Sometimes the time-lag is
so great that the publications are obsolete by the time
the printed copies are received for sale and distribution.
Often, delays take place over trivial matters such as
price fixation. Formerly, the Manager of Publications
would set the prices of those publications to be sold.
Normally, the Manager first gets the cost of production
figures from the press, and by using a standard formula
fixes the price. However, in the past, the issuing agency
in many cases would request a lower price to be fixed,
involving unnecessary correspondence between the Manager's
office and the sponsoring department, with the Controller'
office often having to mediate.
In order to do away with this kind of delay, a
memorandum was issued on February 21, 19 7 0 from the
^"India (Republic) Lok Sabha Secretariat. Public
Accounts Committee. 45th Report, p. 5.
Controller's office to all government presses. It
permitted the presses to compute the normal price and to
print it on the publication, in all cases where the
sponsoring department would have no objections. If there
is conflict, the heads of the government presses have been
instructed, they are to negotiate directly with the
department, without going through the Manager of
Publications.
Sales Promotion
Very little effort has been made towards under
standing market profiles and promoting the sales of
government publications. Public relations play no part in
the publication program. Catalogs and price lists are not
distributed regularly, and there is almost no advance
publicity. Occasional advertisements that appear in the
local newspapers do not indicate the proper subject
headings for the publications, and are inserted in a
haphazard order. Many businesses are discouraged from
applying for agency status by the many and rigid terms and
conditions attached thereto. Publicity brochures ,
pamphlets, handouts and similar material, intended for
promotional purposes, are not properly distributed to the
public. Finally, government publications are never
reviewed in the news media.
Certain publications are subsidized by the govern-
165
ment, and can therefore be sold for even less than cost
price. Examples of this type of publication appear in
Table 20, which lists a number of periodicals issued by
the Publications Division, and which gives the cost of
production, the selling price, and the revenue from each.
The loss indicated is borne by the government, and it
would seem that much of this kind of material is brought
out as propaganda. Scholarly and scientific publications,
on the other hand, are overpriced and enjoy a very limited
circulation within India.
Thus, the publications of the government of India
suffer from a lack of publicity and from poor sales
promotion, in which techniques have been in use for two
or three decades are still being practiced. This is one
of the reasons why heavy stocks accumulate. A study
of the socio-economic values of the reading public and
the adoption of effective modern methods of handling and
distribution may improve the situation.
Taking these factors into consideration, it will
be seen that there is a need to set up a sales organiza
tion where all government publications can be purchased
in one place. This need has been expressed by both agents
and customers. The Publications Division, together with
the Manager of Publications, has therefore suggested an
TABLE 20
EXAMPLES OF PERIODICALS PUBLISHED BY THE PUBLICATIONS
DIVISION, NEW DELHI
Total No. Total cost Cost Sale Price Revenue Gross
of copies of production per copy per copy Sales Advt. Loss
Name of Journal printed (In Rs.) (In Rs.) (In Rs.) (In Rs.) (In Rs.)
Ajkal: Hindi
(Monthly)
42,780
Kurukshetra: Eng. 114,191
(Monthly)
Kurukshetra:
Hindi (Monthly) 49,884
Yojana: Eng.
(Biweekly)
Yojana: Hindi
(Biweekly)
68,017
91,482
46 ,608
333,540 267,901
161,425 142,792
1.60
0. 81
0.94
0. 81
0.89
0.60 22,151 1,199 -44,667
0.40 10,349 10,950 -70,183
0.30 2,838 2,151 -41,619
0.25 47,248 57,261 -163,392
0.25 14,638 5,912 -122,242
166
167
integrated scheme.^
The proposed scheme involves setting up a nucleus
sales organization for the intensive coverage of all
regions , and by locating sales representatives in important
towns and state capitals, to be followed by mobile sale
units and later still the establishment of static emporia
in metropolitan cities and in the more important state
capitals. ' Each sales emporium is to be situated in a
high-level market zone, and each stall will be provided
with modern storage and display equipment. It will be
equipped with proper lighting, appropriate cooling and
heating facilities, separate entrance and exit, and a one
way turnpike at the entrance. Books will be arranged by
subject.2
It is believed that these measures will help to
enhance the impact of the information contained in
government publications and to increase the volume, of their
sales. This plan was recommended in India’s Fourth Five-
Year Plan so that progress and effectiveness thereof will
not be visible until towards the end of the period
covered.
^"India (Republic) Publications Division. Three
Tier Integrated Sales Promotion Scheme (Typewritten) ,
(New Delhi", 19 70).
2Ibid. , p. 21.
Miscellaneous
Certain other minor characteristics are observable
in the Indian government publications. Parliamentary
publications, unlike the non-parliamentary ones, do not
carry any advertisements, nor are they themselves
advertised in the news media. The prices of parliamentary
publications are given in Indian currency only, whereas
for non-parliamentary material the prices are usually
given in three currencies, i.e., Indian, British, and
United States.
Both parliamentary and non-parliamentary publica
tions carry the seal of the government on their covers.
The symbol for each publication is normally printed on the
top right hand corner of the front cover, occasionally on
the back cover. A detailed printer's statement usually
appears on the publication, including the name of the
press and where it is located. Of late, the year of
imprint has been printed both according to the Hindu
calendar arid the western calendar. The number of copies
printed of the publication, which forms part of the symbol
in most cases, is given. The printer's name, in abbrevi
ated form, usually appears at the bottom of the last
printed page. Since the 1960's, many publications have
included the Hindi equivalent of the name of the govern
ment department, given in romanized form.
Names and addresses of agents are usually listed
169
on the verso of the cover. In many cases, also, a listing
of selected publications is given in the same place, along
with details of how they nay be obtained. Publications
printed at government presses do not have a title page.
No reviews are ever published of such publications in the
news media.
The large majority of the publications are in
English, which is still the lingua franca of the country
in the areas of administration, education, and law. A
certain percentage are in Hindi, while only a negligible
number are issued in the regional languages.
The names of the many publishing and distributing
units of the government of India tend to be confused with
one another. The Publications Branch is also known as
the Office of the Manager of Publications, and there is no
explanation why these two terms are used interchangeably
on the publications. Similarly, there are Publication
Branches at the Ministry of Law as well as in the
President's Secretariat. The Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting, the Geological Survey of India, and the
National Council of Applied Economic Research each has its
own Publications Division, for publishing and distribution ,
matters."*-
n
Saini, R. P. "Centralization of Government of
India Publications," in Seminar on Government of India
Publications, November 20~, 1970 (New Delhi: Govt, of India
Libraries Association, 19 71), Appendix VIII.
170
The Current Model: Its Characteristics
In the following pages , the current working model
of government of India publications will be described under
the various headings of preparation, pricing formula,
bibliographic control, and distribution system. The
description follows in each case the same order as in
previous discussions.
1. The need for a publication is expressed within the
organization or by experts in the field working
outside the organization.
2. The publication is the result of internal activity
or research of the government body itself, or one of
general interest of which it is felt the public
should know.
3. The final authority on whether or not to publish lies
with the director-general, or in the case of an
autonomous body or with the secretary, if it is a
regular department or ministry. For the sake of
convenience, however, actual approval is on paper
given at lower levels in the organization.
k. A considerable amount of paperwork is involved in
obtaining such approval. It is very formal in
nature, and often involves much time and labor.
The preparation of the manuscript is the responsibil
ity of the office concerned, which has to get the
manuscript typed and edited before sending it to
the press.
Under established government rules, it was the
general practice to have the manuscript printed
through the office of the Chief Controller of Print
ing and Stationery, which was the centralized
authority for the entire printing process with control
over all the government presses. However, the
regulations have recently been relaxed to the extent
that individual bodies are being given increasing
powers in selection of private presses and in
arranging to have their manuscripts printed, without
having to go through the Controller's Office.
Private presses are selected by inviting tenders,
the general practice being to accept the lowest
bid submitted.
The manuscript is sent to the selected press with
printing specifications, which may cover art work,
type design, lay-out, time schedule, and similar
matters.
Issuing bodies decide on the number of copies to be
printed. However, much bargaining on this question
takes place between the issuing body and the printing
office or the Manager of Publications, which
172
generally acts as a centralized clearinghouse in
the distribution of publications.
10 . The maj ority of government publications'' are in
English, roughly estimated at between seventy-five
and eighty per cent. Publications in Hindi are next
largest in order, followed by the regional languages,
11. All publications have some form of symbol printed
on them, as a key to a filing or identifying system,
through which the issuing agency and the nature of
the publication can be recognized.
12. At different stages of the printing, galley proofs
are received from the press. The price of the
publication is fixed by the issuing agency before
the final proofs are returned.
13. All government publications are printed on what is
known as "white" paper, that is, except for certain
prestige publications. This paper is actually a
low-grade paper, light yellowish-gray in color.
Since the government acquires the paper on special
terms, all publications, again except for the prestige
kind, have to be printed on this paper. Higher-
quality paper is available on the open market, but
no effort has been made to have it used for government
publications.
14. The ink used for printing government publications is
obtained by inviting tenders, with the lowest bid
17 3
getting the contract. Since the lowest bid usually
means a lower grade of ink, the result is again low-
quality printing.
15. The covers of government publications are poorly
made, and a dull bluish-gray in color, resulting in
an unattractive appearance.
Price Fixation
1. The price of publications is normally fixed at the
proof-reading stage.
2. There is no uniformity in the methods of price
fixation followed in the Indian government offices.
3. Parliamentary publications are priced according to
the number of pages they contain.
4. Non-parliamentary publications, issued by more than
500 hundred government offices, are priced by
individual pricing formulae.
5. The generally accepted method seems to use the
formula of cost of production plus a certain per
centage. The cost of production is arrived at by
adding the materials involved, such as paper, ink,
blocks, labor, handling charges, and royalties. To
this, anything from 40 to 250 per cent is added,
depending upon the category of the publications,
and the net figure is divided by the number of
copies, arriving at the price per single copy.
174
6. The wide variation in the profit percentage added
to the cost of production is due to the different
policies followed by each issuing body, and is also
due in part to the great variety of types of publi
cations. Certain superior publications, called
prestige publications, will for example have 200 to
300 per cent added to the cost of production.
7. Again, no uniformity is to be seen in the fixing of
foreign prices. Parliamentary publications do not
have their prices shown in foreign currencies.
Instead, to obtain the prices to be charged abroad,
the Indian prices have to be converted into the
foreign currency in question.
8. In the case of non-parliamentary publications, the
generally accepted formula used by the Publications
Branch is for each rupee to be treated as 36 United
States cents or 2s.4d. Actually, in the international
exchanges, the rate is lower, around 7.50 rupees
being equivalent to one United States dollar. To
justify this inflated conversion, the government of
India cites the additional handling and packing
needed for such orders.
9. Some autonomous bodies have inflated their prices
even further, and do not follow the standard con
version formula used by the Publications Branch.
10. There is inconsistency also in the foreign prices
175
which are printed on the publications. Sometimes
the price is given in three currencies, i.e., Indian,
British, and United States, whereas sometimes only one
or two of these currencies is given.
11. There is considerable delay in the fixing of prices,
in many of the offices. This is because the cost of
production has to be relayed from the printing press
through formal channels, involving paperwork and
time. Another factor in the delay is that often there
is conflict between the government press and the
issuing body over this question.
12. The great disparity in pricing methods means also
that the cost of production may be computed in
different ways. Similarly, staff time spent on the
preparation of publications varies from office to
office. Consequently, a publication of 600 pages
produced by one office may cost 5 0 to 7 0 per cent
less than a similar publication produced by another
office. Yet the paper used is the same and the
resulting publications are physically of the same
low standard.
13. Reprints are normally priced differently from the
first time they are issued. As the cost of production
increases with time, it can be safely assumed that
reprints will be higher in price.
176
Bibliographical Control
1. There is no single bibliographical tool that can
point out all the publications of the government
of India at one place.
2. The priced publications, plus a few of the unpriced
ones, are stocked by the Manager of Publications,
and thus are listed in the catalogs issued by that
office. This office puts out a weekly mimeographed
list, sent to all its agents, and a monthly list,
with cumulated catalogs. Entry and scope are
limited, the lists are often late, and contain many
inconsistencies.
3. Catalogs are also issued by various other government
bodies, which are more like price lists than real
catalogs, by professional standards.
4. The Indian National Bibliography, a product of the
Central Reference Library in Calcutta, lists
government publications in its Part II. However, it
is not up to date, and it is not continuous.
Moreover, it does not list all the government
publications.
5. The catalogs of the Indian National Bibliography and
the Manager of Publications are only of semi-
professional standard, and in no way comparable with
other catalogs such as the H.M.S.O. catalog in
England or the monthly list of the Superintendent
of Documents in the United States. The other cata
logs in India are actually only price lists.
6. The publications are entered in the catalogs only
after they have been printed and made ready for sale.
There is, therefore, a considerable time-lag between
publication and listings.
7. There is no catalog indicating forthcoming publica
tions .
8. All available catalogs and price lists are in
English. For publications not in English, a romanized:
entry is used.
9. Since the lOBO’s, prices have been shown in Indian
as well as in foreign currencies.
10. The catalogs are voluminous, unattractive in
general appearance, and printed on low-quality
paper.
Distribution and Sales Promotion
1. Distribution of government of India publications is
done in one of the following three ways:
(i) directly by the issuing agency; (ii) through
government-owned bookstores; (iii) through commercial
booksellers.
(i) (a) If the publication is to be received
directly from the agency, the cost should be paid :
1
178
in advance. Some agencies send their publications
postage-paid, but others do not. It is the
responsibility of the requester to find out what
he has to pay, either by correspondence with the
agency or through studying its catalog.
(b) A common method of obtaining publications in
India is by V.P.P., where the publication will be
shipped by the office concerned with the under
standing that the customer will pay the required
sum to the post office. The money paid in is
credited to the amount of the issuing office by
the Postal Department. Also, each office or
issuing body will have a sales counter on its
premises where their publications may be purchased
on a cash basis. In certain cases, where the cost
of the publication is less than 5 rupees, the
postal charges are payable by the customer. To
find out how much the postal charges will be,
one must correspond with the distributor before
sending in the order with the exact sum enclosed,
(ii) Publications can be bought at the government-
owned bookstores located in different parts of the
country. Large distributors such as the Manager of
Publications and the Publications Division operate
their own bookstores in metropolitan centers. There
are also information centers in different states
which deal with government publications. These
bookstores operate on the same principles as commer
cial bookstores , and observe regular hours of
business.
(iii) The most important method of distribution is
through commercial bookstores , popularly known as
agents.
> >(a)rAgents are appointed by the respective offices,
after fulfilling certain terms and conditions.
(b) These terms and conditions vary from lengthy
and rigid ones such as those prescribed by the
Manager of Publications to a more lenient type such
as required by the Publications Division.
(c) Agents are of two types: wholesale and retail,
the type depending upon the quality of sales they
undertake. There are only a handful of wholesale
dealers, whereas there are hundreds of retail
dealers scattered throughout the country.
(d) Agents receive a certain percentage of the
price as commission, the percentage varying from
one agency to another. In general, wholesalers
get between 25 and 30 per cent, with retailers
receiving 20 to 25 per cent, depending upon the
government office concerned.
There is no centralized location where all publica
tions of the government of India can be obtained.
180
3. The leading distributors are the Manager of Publica
tions, the Publications Division, the Ministry of
Education, and several autonomous bodies in the non-
parliamentary category. In the case of parliamentary
publications, the Lok Sabha Secretariat's Sales
Section is the only office.
4. The Manager of Publications acts as a clearinghouse
for nearly 60 per cent of all government publications.
In general, the sponsoring ministry or department has
no part in their distribution, once the copies reach
the office of the Manager of Publications.
5. The rest of the publications are distributed
independently without going through the Manager of
Publications. Eighty-three such offices have been
identified as handling their own distribution.'*'
6. Because of this great degree of decentralization,
the user is not sure to whom his request for publica
tions should be addressed. The Manager of Publica
tions has never listed the government bodies whose
publications are distributed by his office.
7. At the same time, there are also several departments
or bodies, for which publications are available at
^R. P. Saini? "Problems Relating to the Procurement
of Government of India Publications," in Seminar on Govern
ment of India Publications, November 20, TF70 (New Delhi:
Government of India Libraries Association, 1970),
Appendix I.
181
more than one location.
8. Generally, the publications are sold and distributed
to agents on a "no return" basis, i.e. , unsold
copies may not be returned for credit.
9. For periodicals, subscription rates are normally
available directly from the issuing agency.
10. Most of the issuing bodies list their agents in
their publications, the list usually appearing on
the verso of the covering page.
11. There is no centralized sales promotion service for
government publications.
12. Advertisements are often inserted in the leading
newspapers for government publications. However,
these advertisements are badly composed and are
not arranged in subject categories. Hence they
do not attract public attention.
13. Although instructions are given regarding window
displays of their publications to the agents by
each issuing body, this has not been effective
enough in practice.
14. No arrangements have been made for having government
publications reviewed in the news media.
15. Brochures, pamphlets, leaflets and posters announcing j
government publications, often with brief annota
tions , are sent from time to time to the agents.
16. No work in the field of public relations seems to
182
be carried on with regard to the promotion of
government publications.
17. In general, sales promotion efforts are on< a very
primitive level, and do not have much in the way
of effectiveness.
18. Certain issuing bodies appear to give discounts
on unsold stocks.
19. In most cases, inventories show a heavy accumlation
of stocks.
20. Most of the issuing bodies list their publications
in each work that they issue, so that the public
may be informed of what is available.
In summary, this chapter has dealt with the
interpretation of various aspects of publishing carried
out by the government of India. For convenience, it has
been divided into three parts, viz., (a) General
Description, (b) General Discussion, and (c) The Current
Working Model: Its Characteristics.
The first part has dealt with the concepts involved
in the preparation, symbolization, printing, pricing,
bibliographical catalogs, and sales of publications.
Wherever available, publication statistics have been
included. In the second part, an attempt is made to
evaluate the different areas of the publication program;
parliamentary vs. non-parliamentary publications, staffing,
categories of publications, quality of printing and paper,
wastage in publications, sales promotion, and miscellaneous
matters related to the above. In the third part, the
current working model is described with its salient
features. This description has been arranged in a certain
sequence. The phases included in this model correspond to
the hypothesis formulated in Chapter III. These phases
are: preparation, price fixation, bibliographical control,
and distribution and sales promotion of government
publications.
It is hoped that the discussions and description
of the model in this present chapter will be relevant In
considering the recommendations which follow in the next
chapter.
CHAPTER VII
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION
The survey carried out and described in earlier
chapters has revealed such a degree of complexity that it
has not been possible to draw conclusions of a definite
nature. The reasons are many. First, the study was a
general'survey. Second, it was limited to five major
bodies participating in the publication program of the
government of India. Third, statistical data were lacking
in many pertinent areas. Fourth, the study did not cover
the problems to be encountered in the administrative
systems of the five bodies studied. Lastly, the topic
ifself is so vast that to carry out a comprehensive
study would have necessitated much more time than was
feasible.
However, the following general conclusions may
appropriately be made. Wherever a recommendation can be
made regarding a conclusion, it is given immediately
afterwards.
A. India, a union of sixteen states, has a
highly decentralized and complex publication program. The
184
publications originate from many different sources in
response to many different needs. A total of some 500
offices have been identified under the government, com
prised of attached, subordinate, autonomous, and other
bodies. The government is the largest publisher in the
country in terms of both quantity and variety. The
publications vary from a typewritten annual report to a
multi-volume research-oriented scholarly work. The
process of producing a government publication in India
entails too many separate measures, from the time that
the manuscript is prepared until its eventual distribution,;
and these measures are both formal in nature and require a ;
great deal of paperwork.
Recommendation: The efficiency and effectiveness
of the publication program will
be increased if the time-consuming;
and cumbersome paperwork can be
eliminated. It should also be
possible to establish better
communication within each of the
offices. If rules and procedures
are put in written form, this
would lessen the degree of
disorganization and would also
assist in the objective evaluation
of the system. It may also be
that a certain degree of centrali
zation is necessary in order to
avoid duplication in the various
offices.
B. The bulk of the government publications are
in English. A considerable percentage is published in the
Hindi language, while only a negligible portion is issued
in the regional languages. There are 14 government presses
which are used to print these publications, and all of
them are administered by the office of the Chief Controller
of Printing and Stationery. This office acts as a
centralized printing activity of the government of India.
The study reveals that the presses have a
tremendous workload, and that most of their working time
is taken up with the printing of standard forms for the
various offices of the government. It is conservatively
estimated that 70 per cent of the total volume of all
government printing consists of forms. The printing of
publications therefore appears to be only secondary in
nature.
The actual printing work done by the government
process is felt to be utilitarian in nature, and not
quality work, as the paper, ink, and the format used
therein are of poor quality.
I
Recommendation:
187
The publications of the Indian
government have immense value,
as they are the only authentic
sources of information on many
aspects. The existing rules,
under which the printing jobs of
all offices have to be done
through the Controller of Printing
and Stationery, entail many dis
advantages. This policy was
adopted even before India’s
independence, at which time
publication activity was confined
to merely a few reports. The
rules were revised in 19 51,
according to the manual of the
Controller's Office, but since
then very little change has been
carried out. Centralizing the
printing activity for the publica
tions has not been effective, as
the quantity of publications has
increased tremendously over the
past twenty years. It is recom
mended that the government
188
offices should be given enough
freedom to choose presses from the
private sector in order to meet
their needs and to improve the
quality of their publications.
C. Indian government publications can be recog
nized by certain characteristics. Most of them carry the
seal of the government in the form of the state emblem,
which normally appears on the cover page. The publications
also mention the press at which it has been printed, if
it is a government press, and the issuing office, together
with its controlling department or ministry. In addition,
a symbol is generally printed, appearing on the top right
hand corner of the cover page. This symbol, when decoded,
indicates the publishing office, the nature of the
publication, and the number of copies printed. The last
item appears as the denominator.
Regarding the symbol, observation of many publi
cations reveals that it does not appear consistently in
the same place on the publication. Also, the amount of
information it conveys varies considerably from office to
office. At one extreme, some symbols give details of
the issuing body, the year of publication, the category
and language of the publication, and the number of copies
printed, while on the other hand a symbol may Indicate only,
the issuing body and the year of publication.
Recommendation:
189
The seal of the government should
be mandatory on every government
publication. This would serve to
identify it as such* both on the
national and international levels.
With regard to the symbol,
it is highly recommended that it
should be printed in a specifi
cally designated place which
should be the same for every
publication. Also, the symbol
should include all factors: the
publishing office, the year of
publication, the category of the
publication, the language, the
number of copies being printed,
and if possible the edition
statement. Uniformity of symbols
is highly recommended. This
would also act as a classifica
tion system to help in the storage1
and retrieval of the publications.
The government should issue a
circular prescribing the symbols
to identify each government
office.
190
D. It has been seen that the unpriced publica
tions of the government include administrative reports,
propaganda material, and documents labelled "for official
use only," and "confidential." A large quantity of useful
information is to be found in them, but the general public
is largely unaware of their existence. An additional
factor is that, with the exception of propaganda material,
such publications are not available for public use. It is
possible that the use of the labelling carries some kind
of political overtone.
Recommendation: It is recommended that the
government should provide the
public with greater access to
these categories of publications,
in keeping with the democratic
spirit of the country, and in
order that its citizens may be
better informed.
E. There is no single bibliographical tool that
includes all the publications of the Indian government.
The bibliographical control over publications is highly
decentralized. Most of the catalogs are mere price lists
and do not measure up to professional standards. Often
they are inconsistent, inaccurate, and appear only after
considerable delays.
All of them are in English, and include
191
bibliographical items such as author, title, year of
publication, and place of publication, but not necessarily
under any scientific arrangement. Normally, prices for
the publications are given in three currencies: Indian
rupees, pounds sterling, and United States dollars. If
the publication is other than in English, it is entered
under a romanized form. It is also felt that the offices
do not keep each other informed about their individual
publication programs, so that duplications may ensue.
Recommendation: One of the fundamental requisites
for an effective publication
program is to have proper biblio
graphical control. This is even
more true in the case of govern
ment publications., which origi
nate from different sources and
which exhibit great complexity.
It is recommended that the
government of India should attempt
to point out all its publications
in one single source. Catalogs
should be of a professional
standard, conveniently arranged
and indexes, should appear at
regular intervals, and should be
frequently cumulated. The United
192
States government, H.M.S.O., and
Canadian government catalogs are
generally recognized as worthy
models that could be emulated.
It should be pointed out that
proper bibliographical control
through catalogs is a basic re
quirement for any successful
publication program. Apart from
the main catalog, other catalogs
can be issued, according to the
language of the publication, or
according to subject, for easier
consultation. A catalog of
"forthcoming publications" will
have immense value in informing
the public of what will be avail
able in the future.
Catalogs should be compiled
by professionals so that all
pertinent data about each publi
cation can be included. The
Indian National Bibliography can
be expanded along these princi
ples, which will enhance its total
effect.
193
F. As has already been pointed out in Chapter VI,
the publications of the government of India are distributed
through many different outlets. The most popular method of
distribution is through agents, who are actually commercial
booksellers. The appointment of agents and the rates of
commission which they receive on their sales differ greatly
from office to office. Also, in most cases, the appoint
ment of agents involves too tedious and cumbersome a
procedure.
Recommendation: There should be a single
centralized clearinghouse where
all publications of the government
can be made available. The
appointment of agents should be
made on the basis of simple terms
and conditions, uniformly followed'
by all the offices. If this is
done, an agent already appointed
by one office can automatically,
without further screening, be
appointed agent for other offices !
also, if desired. Similarly, the
commission granted on their
sales should be a uniform rate,
which would eliminate a great
deal of confusion and give equal
194
incentive for selling all types
of publications.
G. The pricing of publications is not uniform,
as has been discussed at length in Chapter VI. The main
inconsistency is to be found in arriving at the cost of
production and in determining the percentage to be added
for handling charges. • Also, inconsistency is to be
noticed in converting the price into foreign currencies.
Recommendation: There should be a uniform
pricing formula written out and
observed strictly by all govern
ment offices. Similarly, uni
formity should be observed in the
expression of prices as this
would create a better impression
abroad of Indian government
publications. Regulations should
be enforced so that the govern
ment circular on conversion rates
will be strictly observed. Where
postal charges are payable, they
should be indicated on the public
cation itself, together with the
price, and they should also be
shown in the catalogs.
H. Sales promotion and public relations are
195
inadequate for good distribution of Indian government
publications. Occasional advertisements appearing in the
bigger newspapers in India are poorly designed and lack
proper arrangement. Publicity materials such as brochures
and handouts do not reach the greater part of the public,
as they are intended to do, due to ineffective distribu
tion .
Recommendation: Advertisements are one of the most
important ingredients in the
promotion of sales. They should
appear on a regular schedule, in
all the leading newspapers, and
coverage should be extended to
radio and television. Efforts
should be made for the proper
exposure and distribution of
advertising matter. By display
ing placards and distributing
handouts, advertising can be
carried out at conferences, semi
nars , and other meetings, and also
at libraries and bookstores.
Another important contribu
tion would be to have selected
publications reviewed in the
various media. Even though this
196
may sound like a non-governmental
type of task, it would be a
practical solution for a develop
ing country such as India.
I. On the basis of the entire research study, and
of the conclusions drawn so far, it can be emphasized that
the current operating model of the publication program of
the government of India has become outmoded and also
outdated. This conclusion is drawn based on the inadequa
cies that exist in the different areas of the program, such
as processing, bibliographical control, and distribution,
as revealed by the research. In general, this ineffective
ness of the system is due to the degree of decentraliza
tion, cumbersome office procedures, outdated methods, and
unscientific managerial techniques.
Recommendation: It is strongly recommended that
a separate office be set up for
the purpose of coordinating the
entire publishing program of the
government of India. This office
should preferably be an autonomous
body, as it will be given powers
of independent administration and
of establishing policies in a
manner flexible enough to meet
the different requirements of the
197
issuing bodies.
It should be the responsibil
ity of this office to maintain
lines of communication with all
the government offices and to
receive their publications. In
one sense, it will thus be the
depository for all categories,
priced and unpriced, of publica
tions issuing from a government
office. This body will maintain
acquisitions records and put out,
at regular intervals and with
cumulations, catalogs compiled by
professional staff. It could also
bring out lists of forthcoming
publications on the basis of
information received from the
issuing bodies.
It is also possible to
empower this organization to
act as a centralized clearing
house for government publications*
This should be done with the
cooperation of all the issuing
bodies and through proper coordi
nation. This is not to say that
it would be the only outlet for
government publications. It will
be an additional source where such
publications may be obtained and
where enquiries regarding any
government publication may be
sent, since all statistics and
records will be maintained here.
In addition, it will carry out
sales promotion and public
relations activities.
Because of the availability
of statistical data, the organi
zation will also be able to carry
out qualitative and quantitative
analyses. For example, it could
publish monthly, yearly, and other
periodic statistics on publica
tions , as well as compilations by
subject, by issuing body, and by
language. These could be of
great benefit in making critical
evaluations of various aspects of
the government program of publica
tions .
199
Although there is no mechani
zation in any aspect of the
publication program, it is possible
to visualize this operation as an
automated system in the future,
as the country grows stronger
technologically. In that event,
the automation could provide a
better opportunity for the manip
ulation of statistical data, in
the storage and retrieval of such
data, and the analysis thereof,
thus providing better service
along with a more economical use
of time and labor.
It is above all recommended
that an in-depth study of the
publication program of the
government of India be made, in
order that the various recommend
ations that have been made in
this dissertation may be consid
ered. It is further recommended
that the study be made by a team
of professional experts in the
different aspects of the
publication program. The study
could be carried out by splitting
up the total system into smaller
subsystems which can each be
examined for their problems. As
an example, bibliographical
control can be cited as one such
problem area. Through the systems
approach, it is possible to
diagnose the problems and then
gradually to formulate solutions
that can be presented for
approval by the government. With
the allocation of the needed
resources, the total system could
then be rejuvenated for effective
performance.
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Asset Metadata

Creator Srikantaiah, Taverekere (author)

Core Title A Study Of Some Aspects Of The Publication Program Of The Government Of India, With Recommendations

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Library Science

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Library Science,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Advisor Boaz, Martha (committee chair), Hess, Edward J. (committee member), Kilpela, Raymond (committee member), Siegel, Gilbert (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c18-811295

Unique identifier UC11363146

Identifier 7318845.pdf (filename),usctheses-c18-811295 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 7318845

Dmrecord 811295

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Srikantaiah, Taverekere

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses