Re: [LIS-Forum] Budget 2019, Books & Libraries

Satya, thanks for this timely alert to us all.Truly a shocking step revealing lack of reflection and absence of vision. Usha On Sun, Jul 7, 2019 at 11:18 PM Mysore Jagadish wrote:

Very right. Knowledge has no boundaries. Jagadish

On Sun, Jul 7, 2019, 17:36 Sathyanarayana NV

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wrote:

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The union budget for 2019-20 presented by our fist lady Finance Minister of India has something literally striking at book lovers and libraries. This is perhaps the first budget since 1947 that has taxed printed books by levying 5% import duty. The reason given is: this step would promote local publishing industry. Should a democratic society discriminate knowledge by its origin?

Such a step was attempted in Karnataka when S M Krishna was the Chief Minister. The tax was rolled back quickly as the authors’ community, publishers and the Karnataka State Library Association (KALA) strongly protested then.

If there is one thing in the world that knows no boundary, it is knowledge. Knowledge by nature is universal. Books are the most reverential symbol and embodiment of knowledge. Taxing books and knowledge on the grounds of their origin is a highly retrograde steps. There are already protests in the media seeking to roll-back this tax. It is time the libraries and publishing industry come out and appeal to the Government through their respective professional groups and associations.

|N. V. Sathyanarayana| |Chairman & Managing Director|Informatics India Ltd.|Bangalore 560004|INDIA| |www.informaticsglobal.com|

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