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Annexure – III:
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Structure of the National Translation Mission
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The NTM would be a relatively small body in terms of its own infrastructure and
be flexible in organisation, but would have a budget sufficient to enable it to
carry out targeted funding in identified areas. It could have a Director-General,
assisted by about 15 to 20 full-time academic staff and an equal number of support
staff (including accounts/audit, library & info, web-designing and print-specialists,
editing assistants, event organisation assistants, technicians/documentation people
etc). NTM would have an Advisory Council to guide its activities. The decision making
body could consist of 10 members representing translators, academia, publishers,
etc. with some sort of a rotating membership (for example, two to three year terms
with two members being replaced every year).
The focus of the NTM would be on information, application, training and creativity
in the area of translation. It will not function in a centralised way but will require
involvement at many different levels, including state and local levels, and co-ordination
with manydifferent agencies.
It would co-ordinate and co-operate with a variety of organisations, to prevent
duplication, create synergies and allow for integrated yet flexible development
of translation activity. These will include public institutions such as National
Book Trust, the UGC, Sahitya Akademi, Translation Kendras, Central Institute of
Indian Languages, university departments offering teaching and research programmes
in Translation, Granth Academies, other state-level institutions, public library
networks, etc.) They will also include publishers, newspapers and other media, corporate
houses, book sellers. In addition, the NTM will have to interact with and incorporate
the requirements of teachers, students, parents, mature learners and other citizens.
The point is to engage in strategic interventions building on and developing synergies
with existing public institutions and private agents.
For logistic reasons, it may be better for the NTM to begin with the mandate of
covering the 22 major languages in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution, but the
importance of maintaining and disseminating the output of other regional languages
should not be forgotten.
It is envisaged that a National Translation Mission performing these activities
could be set up during the XIth Plan, with a proposed budget of Rs. 250 crore for
the entire Plan period (around Rs. 80 crore for organisational costs, manpower and
scholarships, and around Rs. 170 crore for all other activities, which would involve
funding other collaborating institutions/parties). Depending upon the experience
during the 11th Plan period, the extent of this support could be enhanced subsequently.
The NTM may also require some additional one-time support for creating/developing
the necessary infrastructure
It may also have to be decided as to whether this task of creating and developing
the NTM should be assigned to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (especially
its Language Bureau, under which NBT works), since Universities, IITs, NBT and many
Language Institutions – including the CIIL are under its fold, or to the Ministry
of Culture (under which Sahitya Akademi works).
It is worth considering whether this proposal requires further elaboration and development
before submitting to the Government. In addition to consultations with the relevant
Ministries (HRD, Culture, IT) a possibility is to set up a 10-member committee that
could act as a think-tank: |
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1.
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Prof. Bipan Chandra, Chairman, NBT
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2.
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Prof. K. Satchidanandan (Secretary, Sahitya Akademi) or Dr. Nirmal
Kanti Bhattacharjee (Editor, Indian literature, and Member, Sahitya Akademi)
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3.
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Prof. Pramod Talgeri (former VC, CIEFL, and now in JNU) or Prof.
Alok Bhalla, (CIEFL, Hyderabad)
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4.
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Prof. Indra Nath Choudhuri (formerly Professor of Hindi, University of Delhi, Director
Nehru Centre and Secretary, Sahitya Akademi)
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5.
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Prof. U. R. Ananthamurthy (former President, Sahitya Akademi and VC-Mahatma Gandhi
University) or Girish Karnad (formerly Director, Nehru Centre)
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6.
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Prof. Amiya Dev or Prof. Nabaneeta Dev Sen (both formerly Professors,
Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University)
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7.
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Prof. S. B. Verma (Formerly Professor of Japanese, JNU, and well-known translator)
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8.
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Prof. Harish Trivedi, Department of English, Delhi University
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9.
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Prof. Pushpak Bhattacharya(IIT-Mumbai)
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10.
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Prof. Udaya Narayana Singh (Director, CIIL, Mysore) - Convenor
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