The Mamata Banerjee government has suppressed at least one socialist craving and desisted from becoming a textbook printer, though political and financial considerations played a part.

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The Mamata Banerjee government has suppressed at least one socialist craving and desisted from becoming a textbook printer, though political and financial considerations played a part.

Didi escapes printer's devil OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Calcutta, Nov. 19: The Mamata Banerjee government has suppressed at least one socialist craving and desisted from becoming a textbook printer, though political and financial considerations played a part. As part of a drive to "cleanse" the education system, the new government had decided to print all school textbooks at state-run presses. They were to be distributed through the district magistrates' offices bypassing private publishers, many of which survive on the annual print order for school books. But there was a problem: the private publishers' forum's political sympathies lie with Trinamul. After a meeting with the West Bengal Publishers and Booksellers Association today, the chief minister agreed to let private publishers print 19 of the 30 textbooks for Classes VI to VIII as they have been doing. "We will print 11 books and they will print 19," education minister Bratya Basu said. If this suggests political expediency, there was a financial angle too: the decision may have saved the cash-strapped government several crores. Printing just these 11 textbooks cost the exchequer Rs 75 crore this year, an official said. "The additional burden would have meant another Rs 100 crore or more." Amalendu Das, the general secretary of the publishers' association, identified his body as a part of Trinamul. "We too are Trinamul. How could Didi hurt our interests? The livelihoods of eight to 10 lakh people depend on these orders," Das said. "We have been able to make the chief minister see reason." In the early 1980s, the Left Front too had decided to print all school textbooks with the lofty idea of spreading universal education. "That did not materialise because of financial constraints. Our government then settled for printing some of the books," a CPM state committee member said. Since then, the state has been printing 11 of the 30 books required by government school students from Classes VI to VIII. The government publishes all textbooks for Classes I to V and distributes them free; private publishers print all textbooks for Classes IX-XII. Today's decision will relieve many parents who were wondering how a government that struggles to provide its 11 books on time would deliver all 30 on schedule. The government today promised to keep a tab on the content and quality of printing by the private publishers.

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