I&B Ministry mulling online sale of its publications

NEW DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry is exploring the possibility of online sale of books published by its Publications Division to make it easily available to the people.

"We intend to improve the distribution network of our publications. A marketing plan is also being readied. There are Flipkart, Amazon through which books can be ordered online... We are also looking in that direction...," I&B Secretary Bimal Julka said today.

He said this after inaugurating a pavilion at the World Book Fair here. He also released new editions of five books including those on Sardar Patel.

The biography of Patel in Hindi and English is written by I G Patel, former VC of Sardar Patel University. Other books include 'Lohpurush Sardar Patel' - a children's book by Mukut Bihari Verma and 'Desh ki Ekta ka Nirman' - a collection of Patel's speeches and a pictorial biography.

Speaking at the event, Julka said the I&B Ministry also has plans for digitisation of literary works. He said work has already begun in that direction so that books can be restored and preserved for the benefit of younger generations.

"We have around 8,000 books and we are constituting a committee to identify the important works among them," Julka said, adding that the ministry will also try to produce as many e-books as possible.

Earlier in the week, I&B Minister Arun Jaitley had at an event emphasised that the reach of digital medium should be utilised to make other important books accessible to the readers.