NEW DELHI: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday made an appeal to oppose piracy of books in any form as it undermines the rights of the author.
He was speaking after declaring open the nine-day New Delhi World Book Fair (NDWBF) 2026, organised by the Education Ministry’s National Book Trust and India Trade Promotion Organisation at Bharat Mandapam. Pradhan said that in 2025, nearly five lakh pirated copies of the books released by the National Council for Educational Research and Technology (NCERT) were seized from different States. "In the aftermath of the NCERT experience, the government has taken stringent measures to crack down on piracy".
Piracy in any form must be strongly discouraged, he stressed. "Piracy is an assault on the rights of the author as well as the originality of his work. A nation which promotes a healthy reading nation will discourage it as originality and intellectual capital are the identity of a society," he elaborated.
Elaborating on NDWBF2026, he said its theme, 'Indian Military History: Valour and Wisdom @75,' exhibitions on Sardar Patel @150 and Vande Matarm @150 and the presence of Qatar (as the Guest of Honour country) and Spain (Focus country) make the grand celebration of books, ideas, literature and culture even more special.
Milind Sudhakar Marathe, chairman NBT, said, "The New Delhi World Book Fair is an important event in the global literary calendar. It is the festival of festivals. Directors of eleven international book fairs, including the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Bologna Children’s Fair have come down to take part."
Fair Director Yuvraj Malik told TNIE that they were expecting a very high number of visitors. "There were only 2,000 stalls during last year's book festival and we had 2 million footfalls. We have over 3,000 stalls in this edition and expect the visitor count to way above that," he said.
In the pavilion dedicated to the Armed Forces in Hall Five, enlarged photographs of former presidents and prime ministers visiting the base of the armed forces and a screen highlighting the valour of heroes who laid down their lives are constantly beamed. Mini representations of Tejas by the Indian Air Force Academy in Dindigul, Battle tank Arjun by the Officers Training Academy, Chennai, INS Vikrant by the India Naval Academy, Kannur and Soldiers of Kargil are among the depictions here.
Ironically, a stall meant to showcase the National Digital Library of India under the Education Ministry, through which anyone can freely access thousands of documents and books, could not be accessed by visitors as the wifi was not working here most of the day.
Pradhan also released the translated editions of The Saga of Kudopali: the unsung story of 1857 in nine Indian languages. It chronicles the resistance of freedom fighters of Kudopali in Sambalpur, Odisha, under the leadership of Veer Surendra Sai. Bijay Nayak’s Odia book, Aranya Rodan, was also released.
The opening day witnessed much interest from the public, particularly youngsters, who crowded stalls to purchase books.