On the proposed National Book Policy

Public money must support book creation through relevant, closer-to-the-creator institutions.

For several weeks now, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) of the Government of Nepal has put out a draft text in Nepali on its website of the “National Book Policy, 2081 BS”. In the paragraph headed “Background”, the text states, “For quality education and learning, we need quality books. For the easy availability of quality books, their creation, production, distribution and storage aspects need to be strengthened and their writing, translation, editing, production, publication, printing, distribution, and sale aspects need to be developed and managed.” It adds that the Government of Nepal has drafted this policy to do all of the above.