With the Human Resource Development Ministry writing to the National Book Trust (NBT), an autonomous institution under it, late in June that the New Delhi World Book Fair be outsourced to a private company, there is a significant possibility that the hosting of the prestigious book fair is in for a change.
Just before she was shifted to the Ministry of Textiles, the then Human Resource Minister, Smriti Irani, held a meeting on June 22, in which it was decided that a particular private company will be “involved in the management of the entire event”.
A letter subsequently written by the Ministry to the NBT instructed it to forward a small presentation to the private company.
“As a first step towards the direction, it is requested to immediately forward a small presentation on the events proposed to be held along with one or two video clippings of the last fairs...,” the letter accessed by The Hindu says.
However, a senior Ministry official told The Hindu that now the ball is in the court of the new Minister, Prakash Javadekar, who can either go with the previous direction or reverse or modify it.
Till now, the NBT organises the prestigious fair at Pragati Maidan in the heart of the national capital.
The NBT does invite tenders for work such as putting up pavilions and stalls, for which it does not have internal expertise.
Outsourcing by bidsA well-placed source said the NBT’s view is that the event should not be outsourced and even if it is, the outsourcing should be done by inviting bids and ascertaining whether the interested companies have the experience to organise an event that sees massive global participation.
The NBT has been organising the fair since 1972, when the first event saw 200 participants flock to Delhi. Each such event since 1998 has seen more than 1,000 participants from across the globe. Stalls relating to areas ranging from science and technology to social sciences and children’s books are part of each such event.
