New Delhi: Reports of the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) introducing a form which requires authors of books to declare that the content they write will not be against the government or the country, resulted in the council getting flak from all quarters.
However, the council, on Saturday said the declaration form to be filled by authors under its bulk purchase scheme was only to ensure that the content should only create harmony and goodwill among various sections of the society and not otherwise.
NCPUL, which falls under the HRD ministry was reacting clarified that the said has been the practice for the last many years.
“Last year a complaint was received by NCPUL that some content of a book under the bulk purchase scheme was not factually correct. Therefore, NCPUL, as a precautionary measure, modified the form with the objective that the content in government-sponsored books should only create harmony and goodwill among various sections of the society and not otherwise,” the statement said.
It, however, said that in order “to remove ambiguity, if any, in the form, the same will be considered in the next Executive Board Meeting to make it very clear that the intention of the government is not to keep in checkthe freedom of expression in any way.”
