Paras Jha

Ahmedabad: Get ready to pay more if you want to read Mahatma Gandhi’s writings. Come 2009, private publishers will be able to get their hands on Bapu’s literary works which include his autobiography, letters and articles. As of now, the Navajivan Trust, which was founded by Mahatma Gandhi, has the copyright of all his writings.

However, the copyright will expire on December 31, 2008 and, as per the Indian Copyright Act, other publishers can come forward to publish the literary work of Mahatma Gandhi. According to the Act, a copyright is in place for 60 years after the writer dies.

Jitendra Desai, Managing Trustee of the trust, fears Gandhi’s writings will be pricier from 2009.

“After Gandhiji’s writings come into the public domain, anyone can publish his writings. Though we will continue to sell all his books at nominal rates, the prices of the same books by other publications will cost more,” he said.

Ironically, readers outside India won’t have to pay an extra dime for reading Gandhi. Countries which have signed the international copyright conventions have a provision by which the published literature in that country remains protected by the copyright law.

So even if Gandhi’s work goes public in India, in other counties it will remain protected under copyright laws.

The Navajivan Trust, though, isn’t keen on extending the copyright. “The trust doesn’t want to extend the copyright. Our aim is to promote Gandhi’s works and there’ll be many publishers printing them after they go public,” says Desai.

Won’t the decrease in royalty affect trust’s revenues? Desai doesn’t think so.

“Royalty is not the only source of income. Royalty from Gandhi’s works contributes 10-15% of the trust’s total revenue. So I don’t think it will affect our revenue.”

Source : DNA