Must collectively address censorship issue: Publishers
17 Feb 2014 6:14 AM IST
In the wake of the Penguin’s decision to withdraw US scholar Wendy Doniger’s book in India, publishers on Sunday rallied for the need to make collective efforts against the issue of censorship. ‘The withdrawal of Doniger’s book is not an issue of a CEO or an editor. As publishers we need to collectively address the issue of censorship,’ Urvashi Butalia, director, Zubaan Books said.
She was speaking at the event ‘CEO Speak - a Forum for Publishing’ organised by National Book Trust in collaboration with FICCI here today. Doniger’s book ‘The Hindus- An Alternative History’ was withdrawn by Penguin India which agreed to an out-of-court settlement, to recall and pulp all copies of the book within six months.Many other publishers also pointed the lack of a cogent response from the publishing industry on withdrawal of Doniger’s book. ‘There has been no cogent response by the Indian publishing industry on the withdrawal of Wendy Doniger’s book. As an industry we should have a say and be public about this. There are bigger issues of censorship here,’ Karthika VK, publisher, HarperCollins India said.
She was speaking at the event ‘CEO Speak - a Forum for Publishing’ organised by National Book Trust in collaboration with FICCI here today. Doniger’s book ‘The Hindus- An Alternative History’ was withdrawn by Penguin India which agreed to an out-of-court settlement, to recall and pulp all copies of the book within six months.Many other publishers also pointed the lack of a cogent response from the publishing industry on withdrawal of Doniger’s book. ‘There has been no cogent response by the Indian publishing industry on the withdrawal of Wendy Doniger’s book. As an industry we should have a say and be public about this. There are bigger issues of censorship here,’ Karthika VK, publisher, HarperCollins India said.
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