The Government is likely to announce its first comprehensive book policy, “Kannada Pustaka Neeti” shortly. The policy is based on the “final” recommendations of a special committee of the Kannada Book Authority, headed by the authority's Chairman and noted Dalit poet Siddalingiah, according to sources in the Government. The draft of the book policy was first prepared in 2008. An expert committee of the KBA, then headed by S.G. Siddaramaiah, had entrusted the responsibility of preparing a draft to the noted scholar G. Ramakrishna in October 2007. Prof. Ramakrishna had prepared a comprehensive draft identifying problems in the inter-related areas such as literacy missions, existing libraries from primary schools to college levels and public libraries right from gram panchayats to urban areas, quality of available books and the shortcomings, and the alleged unethical methods being practised in various book purchasing schemes. He had also suggested corrective measures, and touched upon various aspects of book culture, ranging from production to marketing and pricing. The draft was submitted to the Government in March 2008.
However, the Bharatiya Janata Party Government had felt that the draft was incomplete and reportedly asked the KBA to update the recommendations in the draft in view of the fast emerging trends in the Kannada publication industry, including e-book, and the increasing competition. Following the Government's request, Prof. Siddalingaiah had constituted an expert committee for the purpose. Recommending a range of measures, the committee, has observed that the proposed policy is applicable to publications in Kannada, Tulu, Kodava and Konkani.
