Yuvraj Malik, director, National Book Trust, India, said,” We have been closely following the corona-related developments and taking cues from the multi-dimensional initiatives of our parent Ministry of HRD’s (Government of India) initiatives to meet the challenges of the Pandemic. As a body for reading promotion, we find that we have a significant role to play.”

Malik mentioned that NBT started #StayHomeIndiaWithBooks initiatives by uploading PDFs of some of its select and bestselling titles for free and as a first step to the series, its has set-up a study group comprising of experienced and young psychologists/counsellors to prepare books on the sub-series on ‘Psycho-Social Impact of Corona Pandemic and the Ways to Cope’. “We hope to bring out both eEditions and printed editions of these books soon enough as support materials for the readers”, added Malik.

The NBT Study Group comprises of Dr Jitender Nagpal, Dr Harsheeta, Sq Ldr (Rtd) Meena Arora, Lt Col TarunUppal, Rekha Chauhan, Sonie Sidhu and Aparajita Dixit.

Govind Prasad Sharma, chairman, National Book Trust, India, said, “In response to the national crisis of this proportion, we believe that as a national institution it is our duty to take initiatives within our domain area to provide support in the form of new reading materials. The ‘Corona Studies Series’ seeks to be our long-term contribution to prepare and engage readers with the various aspects of the corona times by bringing out affordable books in various Indian languages in the identified subject areas. It will also provide a suitable platform to authors and researchers willing to contribute in this genre.”

Kumar Vikram, senior editor of National Book Trust, India, who is leading the project identified the various areas for preparing suitable reading materials under the series. “Besides, the sub-series on the Psycho-Social Impact on various segments of the population due to corona crisis, we are preparing children’s books to let them know about Our corona warriors, and other story and picture books related to various aspects of corona to create awareness,” said Vikram.

He added, “Books focused on art, literature, folklore, economic and sociological aspects, science/health awareness emerging out of the Corona pandemic, and the lockdown, are also in the pipeline.”