Saturday, August 27 2005 16:38 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Lamenting that not one Indian book had made it to noted writer Will Durant's 'The Greatest Minds and Ideas of all times', President A P J Abdul Kalam today (Aug 27, 2005) said there was need for right positioning of Indian books and suggested establishment of chairs in the name of authors in universities.

"Recently, I was reading a book written by Will Durant one of the chapters deals with '100 best books in the world. I find there are books from Greek, Chinese, European and American authors. Not even a single Indian book is found in the list," he said at the inauguration of 11th Delhi Book Fair in New Delhi.

Stating that it was not that India did not have authors with great minds, Kalam said it was because our books have not been positioned in right places.

"Indian books have to reach universities and great libraries of many countries. Some time, we have to start chairs in number of universities in name of great authors and propagate their philosophy," he said and added that good books should also be translated and published in multiple languages.

Kalam emphasised that Government and publishers should collectively project the best books of India.

Speaking on the occasion, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said with the country crossing 70 per cent literacy mark, the growing demand for books signals a higher growth potential for Indian publishing industry.

He said country exported about 100 billion dollar of books to 80 countries, an impact which could be measured in terms of ideas and not just dollar terms.