COLUMN: RETHINKING LEARNED BODIES

Learned bodies in arts and literature exist for the advancement and promotion of these disciplines, and everywhere in the world, they are supported by the state. The purpose for the state support is simple: arts and literature are an integral part of social life, have a humanising effect on society, and are a bridge between a society’s cultural past and its present. It is, therefore, in the interests of the state to support and cultivate them.
A number of learned bodies exist in Pakistan, which are supported by the federal and provincial governments. Some of them include the National Language Promotion Department, the Urdu Dictionary Board, the Urdu Science Board, the Majlis-i-Taraqqi-i-Adab and Bazm-i-Iqbal. The first three organisations work under the federal government, and the latter two under the Punjab provincial government.
There is a case to be made for the restructuring of these bodies in a way that prioritises their essential function of involving scholars and researchers in the creation of standard texts of important literary and reference works. It will necessitate a review of their present mandate, so that the focus can return to this main function.
In recent years, new policies have been introduced to push these learned bodies into becoming profitable entities, a notion that is deeply flawed, since the work of learned bodies does not create profit, although it leads to the curation and dissemination of literature that benefits society directly, and indirectly leads to the strengthening of the arts in the society.
The present proposal for the restructuring of the learned bodies will certainly make their work more efficient, but it may also lead to their becoming self-sustaining in the longer run.
At present, these learned bodies are tasked with the typing, editing and formatting of important literary and reference works, which is the pre-production process; and afterwards, with the printing, distribution, marketing and selling of these books, which are the production and post-production processes.
I would like to propose that the production and post-production processes should be removed from the mandate of the learned bodies, because it diffuses their focus and hobbles their work. Let me explain how.
Once a text has been selected for publication by one of these organisations, it must be assigned an editor. If the publication proposal has not come from a scholar already working on the text, one is chosen for the project. Depending on its nature, the pre-production process may include typing, editing and proofreading for simpler texts and the additional work of annotation and indexing for more complex texts.
All this requires a great degree of intellectual rigour and focus, and this work is most suited for learned bodies. Those who head them are supposed to be learned enough to either know themselves the right resources to employ for carrying out this work, or have a wide enough network of fellow writers, researchers and scholars, who can help them identify the right person or persons for the task.
Some of the finest examples of such stewardship at learned bodies have been Syed Imtiaz Ali Taj and Tehsin Firaqi, who not only wrote themselves and had an appreciation for the classics, but also possessed the intellectual vigour to conceive of and implement a vibrant publishing plan.
Interestingly, both of them at different times headed the Majlis-i-Taraqqi-i-Adab [Board for Advancement of Literature]: Taj (1960-1970), Firaqi (2013-2021). But the learned bodies do not always have such examples. As government bodies, they also receive their share of incompetent narcissists and toadies, of which we have some shining examples, both from the past and present.
Let us now come to the production and post-production processes, which claim a fair portion of a learned body’s budget. After a manuscript’s finalisation, the process of purchasing the paper and selecting the printer begins. Once the books are produced, their quality check, storage, distribution and sales start. All these are important exercises for the promotion of literature, but they do not necessarily have to be a part of a learned body’s work.
I suggest instead that the production and post-production processes should be led by the publishing industry. Once a manuscript has passed the pre-production stages, publishers should be invited to bid on it, for the exclusive rights to publish, sell and distribute it for five years, either directly or through their existing distribution network. The collaboration between the learned body and publisher would be mentioned in the edition, to guarantee the authenticity and accuracy of the text.
Once a text has been in print for five years, the licence would change from exclusive to non-exclusive and, from the sixth year onwards, any other publishers too could acquire the text by paying a nominal set fee to the learned body, and publish and distribute it.
This would discourage the publication of sub-standard editions of important texts, provide work to scholars and researchers, help train young scholars, and open new avenues for them.
It would also allow the original publisher to profit from the sales while the book was being exclusively offered by them, and also hopefully spur them to do their best in promoting and marketing the title during their period. And if, for any reason, the first publisher had not done a good job of putting the text into the hands of the readers, another publisher can remedy it when the non-exclusive publishing licence becomes available from the sixth year.
After another five years, or 10 years from the first publication of a text, the learned body should put the text in the public domain in multiple formats, unicode text, PDF etc, for people to have permanent and free access to it. This would be an efficient, beneficial use of public funds and optimise the function of the learned bodies.
I must add the disclaimer that I head the publishing house KITAB, and have served in the past as a member of the executive committee of the Board of Governors of the Archaeology and Literary Heritage Endowment Fund of the Government of Pakistan, which oversees the work of the National Language Promotion Department, the Urdu Dictionary Board, and the Urdu Science Board.
The columnist is a novelist, author and translator.
He can be reached via his website: micromaf.com
Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, August 25th, 2024