Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi finds no takers in Gujarat

With the new collection coming out,the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has started writing to libraries in the country,making them aware about the new volume which will be ready soon.

Priced at Rs 100 per volume,the “highly-subsidised” set is now in demand across the country,except in Gujarat.

“The Rajasthan government placed orders for about 300 sets last year,and the Uttar Pradesh government has ordered about 500 to 600 sets,” said Rajesh Jha,Director (editorial) Publications Division. “But the final number is not certain yet. It is still in the process.”

The Gujarat government has,however,not placed any order for the work as yet.

“We have not received any orders from the Gujarat government nor the ministries under it,” said Jha.

Also,a number of the government-funded universities in Gujarat have not placed orders for the reprinted collection.

Librarian of the MS University in Vadodara,Jyoti Bhatt,asked Newsline if photostat of the brochures could be forwarded to the university library.

“At present,we are not interested,” said Nilesh Soni,Librarian,Saurashtra University.

The librarian at North Gujarat University,Patan,said the library did not have the complete set. Besides,they have not received the information regarding the present reprint.

Considered to be the most authoritative and exhaustive collection of the late leader’s writings,Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi took roughly 40 years to be compiled. Between February 1956 and 1994,three editor-in-chiefs and two deputy editors looked after the compilation of the collection.

Many Gandhians believe the edition as a complete set is not available with any library in the country.

In 1998,the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had decided to stop reprinting of the volume and instead brought out a revised edition.

As a result,the second printed edition of Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi,and a compact disc came out in 2000.

Gandhians across the world had protested against this edition and the CD,claiming a number of omissions and mistakes.

In mid-2005,the Ministry issued an order to withdraw the revised edition and the CD.

On May 17,2009,a day after the UPA returned to power at the Centre for a second term,tenders were floated for print orders.

Scholars at Gujarat Vidyapith,Ahmedabad,which was founded by Gandhi in 1920,have been scanning the original version of the collection,cleaning the blemishes,stains,ink blots and markings. They collected the 100 volumes of the original edition for the process.

The printing has been undertaken by the Publication Division of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

According to Jha,six volumes have been printed and another 30 (25 in English and five in Hindi) are in the process. These volumes are currently out of stock.

“In a way,it is a heritage. It is the most authentic (work) of Gandhiji’s writings,” Jha said.

He said,“It is not a very high-selling volume. But the demand for the work so far has been encouraging.”

According to Rajendra Khimani,Registrar of the Gujarat Vidyapith,the second reprint is essential for research.

The copyright for Gandhi’s works,in the possession of Navjivan Trust,had expired in January this year.

“If anyone wants to research the Mahatma,then it becomes important that they can access the original works — that is,this edition. With the lapse in the copyright,a lot of material on Gandhi can now be reproduced by anyone,which might not necessarily be accurate,” Khimani said.

However,Jha said that the copyright on Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi has not lapsed yet as the last volume of the collection was printed in 1995. So,the copyright of this work will expire only in 2055.

“It is like a collection of poems by,say,Wordsworth. While a complete anthology cannot be published,individual poems in the anthology can be published by anyone. The copyright laws do not cover these individual works,but as a whole,it is protected,” said Jha.