Naresh Chandna, director, Sai Printo Pack Naresh Chandna, director, Sai Printo Pack tells Rahul Kumar his reasons to choose the Bindwel Freedom 4K from Impel-Welbound. Please describe your company. We are an integrated book printing firm with in-house capabilities from design to fulfilment. We address a large variety of publishers from legal, academic, education and trade. We are equipped with both digital and offset printing facilities for both hardcover and paperback production. When did you start using the Impel-Welbound product? We had a single-clamp binder from Welbound long back. We decided to have a look at one more machine from them after Impel broke away from the Trivandrum group and put up its products in the last PrintPack exhibition. We installed the Freedom 4K binder in October 2019. What are the features of the machine you like? Its speed, flexibility, expandability and reliable local service support. Above all, it is future-ready for various gluing technologies. Why did you decide to use the Freedom 4K? We already had a medium speed binder with us, before, that gives about 1,500 books per hour. However, we faced bottlenecks while addressing the changing needs of our customers, be it in terms of turnaround times or quality. Impel introduced us to the Bindwel Freedom 4K machine that can produce up to 4,000 books per hour, and also can be linked to a gatherer and three-knife trimmer. What are the features that tilted the favour in this? Freedom 4K gives you the freedom to add machines before or after it, to complete the line. One can upgrade to PUR binding without any difficulty. Job changeover is fairly easy to handle. It is a modern machine, unlike some of the pre-owned imported models that we looked at, and helps produce high quality books while keeping your operational costs minimal. Its powerful MIS interface gives us timely information on production and costs. How much have these features helped you? We have been able to address our customer requirements better, providing deliveries faster than before. Our customers also have appreciated the quality of ornamental creasing, side gluing and firmly nipped book spines. For what applications is the product used? We use the binder for all our soft cover book production requirements. If there’s a critical post press job that has come your way, would you rely on this to see it through? Yes, of course, with a brand new machine and with the support of capable application engineers from Impel — there will be no concern at all. The advantage of dealing with a forward looking company like Impel is that they do not go only by the specs sheet, and are willing to address some on-the-job issues we are likely to encounter. What’s the quality like? Compared to our earlier process, the spine and side gluing are much better, and so are cover creasing and the firmness of the book spine. How easy is it to use and handle? This machine is ideal for book printers who have production requirement of above 10,000 books per day. As the future is for inline binding — as space, manpower, energy and wastage need to be reduced — this is an ideal machine to invest in. Would you say that it offers value for money? The machine offers a good value for money. Though the investment costs are higher compared to pre-owned European machines, the overall cost of ownership is much lower. Be it energy consumption, space requirement, upgradeability – Freedom 4K stands ahead. Were there any difficulties during the use of Freedom 4K? There are teething issues with any new machine or technology and we faced it in this case as well. The biggest advantage I see is the quick response of the service team and their ability to address the issue without any delay. Who do you think the Freedom 4K is right for? Inline binding has become a necessity and every book printer will need to switch over from the current offline solutions based on the production requirements. Under what circumstances would you recommend it to others? Unless your requirements are short to medium run or if you are in the digital book print business, you will need a machine of this speed and expandability. CONCLUSION User’s verdict Speed ★ ★ ★ ★ Quality ★ ★ ★ ★ Reliability ★ ★ ★ ★ Value for money ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Supplier’s response Pallippuram Sajith, director, Impel Services (A Welbound Group Company), says, “Bindwel Freedom 4K is a 12-clamp perfect binder which can be connected inline with a gatherer and three-knife trimmer. Freedom 4K occupies the minimum space and consumes lowest energy among the class of binders delivering similar throughput. Be it thin or thick books or a wide range of signatures or covers, Freedom 4K provides optimal quality with minimal wastage. Along with our Signa 4K gatherer and Trimit three-knife trimmer, Freedom 4K establishes the ‘Bindline’ inline soft cover book production system. Sai Print o Pack have always strived to differentiate themselves by delivering good quality binding in tight schedules consistently and Freedom 4K will vastly help them in their core strength.” Contact details Pallippuram Sajith, director Impel Services (A Welbound Group Company) Email: sajith@welbound.com Mobile: +91 93210 86601

(l-r) The nextgen Guptas- Rajiv, Sanjay, and Prashant Seeking flexibility, SDR Printers opted for a Bindwel Freedom > 4K – 12-clamp perfect binder nine months ago. The book printing unit, based in Tronica city, in the outskirts of New Delhi, has been growing at a fair clip and so, new challenges required new solutions. A PrintWeek report. Founded in 1998 by Anil Jain, the offset printing unit located in Nazafgarh Road focuses primarily on large Government tenders, across India, with a specific interest in textbooks. SDR Printers produces educational books for leading MNC and Indian publishers. It provides end-to-end facility, beginning with pre-press to fulfilment. The company kept adding web offset machines to its array of Heidelberg sheetfeds, and did not realise that it was running out of space — space constraints for machines, some manual operations that took up space; and the work-in-progress between the sewing machine and the Welbound six-clamp binder. The family-run company, established by LN Gupta in 1986, realised that it needed to have a long-term plan to service its customers better. And so, the new generation of Guptas — Sanjay, Deepak and Rajiv — got into action. They brainstormed and created a plan, which helped them increase the available space by acquiring a nearby factory and increasing internal efficiencies through replacement of machines. The backbone of the print facility is an eight-colour heatset Heidelberg Harris reelfed machine. This is complete with an inline stacker that bundles the signatures into neat piles that can be transported for signature gathering. Three high-speed folding machines support the four-colour sheetfed presses, three in all, from Heidelberg. Then there are five thread sewing machines which produce book blocks later bound by a six-clamp WB2000 plus an offline Kolbus binder. As most of the books produced by SDR are either thread-sewn or wire-stitched before being covered on an adhesive binder, the speed differences among the machines posed a challenge to their production. So the first plan, along with increased space and installation of more sewing machines, was to boost the adhesive binding capability. Books delivered into a conveyor connected to a trimmer Multiple options The SDR top management explored various options, including a pre-owned Kolbus line that would help streamline the workflow from gathering to three-knife trimming. “We had already seen a few machines in Europe and were in a discussion with Welbound Technical Services to inspect the line and then help commission the same in our factory,” Rajiv Gupta explains. Anil Kumar, the Impel-Welbound head for sales, helped the Guptas and the shopfloor team through each and every step, even though the company was not considering an investment in a Welbound kit. Rajiv Gupta adds, “During PrintPack 2019, we learnt of the separation of the manufacturing arm from Kerala and the front-end headquartered in Mumbai, and that’s when we took a unanimous decision to invest in the Bindwel Freedom > 4K.” Sanjay Gupta adds, “We evaluated the 12-clamp binder from Impel-Welbound during PrintPack 2019 and liked the concept. You can start with the binder, add a book block feeder when you need, add a gathering machine that can also have side stitching, and finally connect it to an inline trimmer. A solution that gave us complete freedom, of effectively utilising the resources — be it capital, space or manpower.” Round-pile cover feeder allows additional stacking Growth plans Rajiv Gupta points out, “We had no doubt in our partner for our growth plans for bookbinding. Here was a person and his company which was willing to help us in any manner, even if it meant getting a pre-owned Kolbus commissioned. Welbound had a clear idea of the challenges faced by book printers. In fact, I think it probably has one of the best after-sales service teams for post-press in India. Plus, its own manufacturing plant in Karnataka. This backing, plus the benefits offered by the 12-clamp binder, made us pick the binder for our new capacity.” Sanjay Gupta adds, “There were teething issues with the new machine in our place. We were moving from a six-clamp which is more forgiving in process issues. Also, we were moving to a system that had the capability to expand in both directions, and demanded that our process delivers inputs that are consistent.” And so, the SDR top management invited Suresh Nair, the Impel-Welbound’s technical director, who is based in Bengaluru. Rajiv Gupta says, “Nair visited us and spent two days in educating us and our operations team about the ‘do’s and don’ts’ and also highlighted a few gaps in process and equipment. The Impel-Welbound team even spent time in adjusting other machines like the thread-sewing machines, so that the binder received consistent inputs.” The right solution SDR believes that it invested in the right solution that can be expanded with gluing options and add-ons before or after the binder. The Bindwel Freedom > 4K binder is capable of producing 4,000 books per hour, has centrally-adjustable twelve book clamps, an infeed and a lay-down delivery that takes the books to an inline trimmer. Impel-Welbound is selling bindery in the Indian and African markets. Some of these are shipped as gathering-binding combination with an in-line Signa gatherer. And a few have opted for PUR gluing in addition to EVA. According to Kumar of Impel-Welbound, the book printers in North India are demanding more throughputs. So far, pre-owned, European equipment have not delivered as per expectations. Most of them operate at half the rated speed and create maintenance issues. Therefore, a new machine that can have modular add-ons is the right tech-option. Key SDR customers are Orient Blackswan (OBS), McGraw Hill and Rachna Sagar. The Guptas are very proud about the fact that they bagged the first prize in excellence in book production from the Federation of Indian Publishers. This was the Sangam Atlas produced for OBS. Five simple tips from Suresh Nair, the Impel-Welbound CTO 1. Inline binders help you reduce the space requirement by 50% and man-power requirements by 70%. 2. Pre-owned binders run at very low operational efficiencies – be it speed, turnaround times or break-downs – turn out expensive even in the medium-run. 3. Per book cost is absolutely important, whether you are servicing an MNC publisher or a government textbook board. It is not the investment cost that matters. 4. Inline binders are less forgiving than the offline solutions when it comes to quality and consistency of the inputs. Be it the quality of pressed and stacked signatures, book block thickness uniformity, consistency and tightness of thread-sewing or conformity of side stitching. But then all these are important for reducing in-process wastage as well as delivering quality output at increased speeds. So if you are waiting for the day when all these inputs improve before you invest in an inline binding solution, then it will be too late. Buy the horse and the process of fitting the cart will automatically follow. 5. It is high time to look at the long term objectives to save costs; be it choosing the right grain direction, making the cover longer than the book block, having regular maintenance plan for your old machines, moving to non-pigmented better quality adhesives, using a high capacity melter while doing thick books, have energy audits done and most importantly, safety first.

Saddle-stitching is the easiest way to secure a book, together. The process is simple and the machinery involved is less complicated and compact. The process involves bending a fixed length of wire and forcing it through the pages and clinching the legs to form a stitch. It is a cheaper process compared to other forms of binding. You can do approx. 12,000 stitches with 1 kg of wire.  Also the machine consumes less space. Saddle stitching basics Saddle stitching is done to print jobs in which the spine thickness does not exceed 1 cm. The wire used for stitching is available in various thicknesses (gauge). The choice of wire is made according to the type of job (the thickness of spine and sheets). For thicker jobs thicker wire may be used since the wire has to penetrate the sheets. The stitcher head is made to handle wire within certain range of thickness. The stitcher head consists of the following components: Wire Straightener: The wire which is drawn out of the spool is straightened Cutter: This cuts the wire to a fixed length to form a stitch Stitcher Head: It bends the wire to form the crown and legs Clincher: It bends the legs of the bent wire from the bottom to form a stitch Basics for a good quality stitch Stitching head Good wire: Wires are normally galvanized. Some-times poor galvanizing creates problems with wire draw. The metal plating on the wire can come off in the straightener.  his creates a jam and offers resistance which in turn affects the wire draw and life of the stitcher head.  When wire is manufactured it is wound on a large spool; only to be rewound and supplied in smaller spool to fit in the machine. Wire in the smaller spool, if stored for many days, (gets aged ) starts to remember its shape in the spool. Such a wire would offer a lot of resistance to straightening and wire draw. To check the suitability of the wire, draw and cut about a metre length. The wire should coil back to form the size of a football (i.e. larger then the spool from which it has been drawn). Nearly half the problems associated to stitching would disappear when you replace an old stock of wire with a fresh spool. Consistent wire draw: The stitcher head should be able to draw fixed length of wire consistently.  You should check the length of wire by drawing them through the stitcher and taking it out after cut.  Take about 15 pieces and check if all are equal in length. If it is unequal the quality of stitch will be affected. You can also check the wire after bending, but before clinching, to see if both the legs have equal length.  If the legs are unequal, they would either overlap or have significant gap between them. Both these conditions are not acceptable. Good cut: There should not be any burr at the edge of the wire when the cut is made.  Ensure that you change the cutter when it starts to give burr at the cut. Centered wire: All stitcher head parts should be properly set according to wire gauge so that the wire is centered correctly in the stitcher head. Clinching: Finally the clinching should be accurate with the correct amount of pressure. The clincher should be clean and devoid of any paper dust. John Finn is the Managing Director, Deluxe Bostich Stitcher Int, Ireland

Greeting cards and rare books often feature Deckle edges Shown here is a colored deckle edge “We own a few books where the side (fore-edge) of the text block is not even. The 1st set amount of the pages are about 1/16” out farther than the 2nd set. The 3rd set is about 1/16” out farther than the 2nd set but equal to the 1st set. The 4th set is the same as the 2nd, and so on. It is as if each small binding section of pages was cut at 2 different widths. Is there a name for this type of edge, or is it an error in binding?”  Sometimes we receive questions from not only book printers, but from individuals interested in bookbinding. If it gets “technical,” this former teacher has the privilege and pleasure of answering them. Here is one such question I received earlier this month: “We own a few books where the side (fore-edge) of the text block is not even. The 1st set amount of the pages are about 1/16” out farther than the 2nd set. The 3rd set is about 1/16” out farther than the 2nd set but equal to the 1st set. The 4th set is the same as the 2nd, and so on. It is as if each small binding section of pages was cut at 2 different widths. Is there a name for this type of edge, or is it an error in binding?” Let us try to understand this phenomenon. Deckle Edges As we are all aware, earlier papers were made by hand. In this operation, the paper pulp is flowing between the frame and the deckle of the mould. This hand casting operation created unusual, beautiful edges. When papers were made by machine, the paper manufacturers tried to imitate that feature by means of a jet of water or air. Other deckle edges can be formed on dry sheets by means of tearing, cutting with a special type of knife, sand blasting or sawing. In earlier book manufacturing, there were no machines available for trimming the edges. As a result, the folded signatures (sections) were left untrimmed—a tradition carried on until a few decades ago. As a hand bookbinder, I have bound many French books with untrimmed signatures or deckle edges. Such untrimmed edges became popular in the late 19th century and lasted to almost the 1990s. For publishers, we had to imitate such rough deckle fore-edges on common machine made papers for many best-selling books. On folding machines and web-printing presses, we used special, dull knives to create such an effect, with the results, that virtually every single sheet varied in its dimension on the fore edge. Librarians did not appreciate that trend as such bindings collected dust, were unsightly (to some) and difficult to turn. Having explained you the process where we tried to create the deckle edges as an ornamental feature, now let us look at a case where these are developed unintentionally. Web-Printed Variables Book and catalogue offset printing is done in sections of 16, 24, and 32 page configurations. One of the largest printing companies on this continent printed a thick Gun Catalogue. A few days after trimming a smooth edge, the Q.C. Manager sent samples to the RIT book testing laboratory and stated that they are unable to figure out this “phenomenon.” Their client rightfully objected to that “saw-toothed” fore-edge and threatened to reject the entire 100,000+ order. Older books often feature untrimmed, rough edges What was going-on? The answer is simple. When using heat-set web offset printing, printers use one large mill-roll of paper after the other. Each section is printed individually and then stored in a warehouse. It often takes days, and even weeks to print such a large order. Most often, printers operate their expensive web presses around the clock, which mean each crew may have a different idea of how to dry the ink, especially large, solid areas. The crews may use different heat settings. Such fluctuations in the paper and in the printing processes will have some consequences. After trimming, the paper is picking up moisture and then wants to grow back into its final “resting” position. Different heat settings, storage conditions and moisture content in each individual section then results in uneven growths. This description is an experience from an actual consulting assignment where, as is most often the case, the binder gets blamed! Older books often feature untrimmed, rough edges. One large German law-book printing and hardcover binding company I visited solved this problem with trimming the book blocks twice. First they trimmed open the folds. Then they let the book blocks rest for 72 hours, giving the paper a chance to adjust to its environment. A three-knife trimmer in front of their hardcover binding line then did the final trims. Those were the smoothest book edges I have ever had the pleasure to observe. Communications in regards to Trimming As we now know, a book with genuine deckle edges is one a bibliophile will always treasure. Some time ago, a library binder in the Midwest (no longer in business) received such a valuable book from a rare book library with the instructions “Save the Deckle Edges.” When the rebound book came back to the library, the librarian noticed that contrary to their instructions, all three sides were trimmed smoothly. When the librarian lifted the cover, she noticed an envelope. It contained the “saved” deckle edges!  

India has made substantial gains in education. This is a country where 250 million children attend schools. Yet one of its most stubborn development challenges is the fact that 33 million children of primary school age still are not enrolled in school. Right to education is enshrined in the Constitution. The central government launched an ambitious scheme for education. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is an effort to universalise elementary education by community-ownership of the school system. The SSA hopes to provide useful and relevant elementary education for all children in the 6 to 14 age group by 2010. There is also another goal to bridge social, regional and gender gaps, with the active participation of the community in the management of schools. India may boast the record for producing and selling the cheapest textbooks in the world Education is one of the key demand drivers for the growth of print world over. The sheer size of the education market in India ensures that this would probably be the largest factor. However, there are challenges in turning this into a value proposition. Free education – free books Innumerable interventions have been planned for the growth of enrollment. One of it includes: Free textbooks to all girls and socially backward children at primary & upper primary level within an upper ceiling of Rs. 150/- per child (less than $4). The state will continue to fund free textbooks being currently provided from the state plans. As a result, the state government textbook boards form the largest segment of publishers – in terms of quantity of books, produced. All such boards put together are estimated to produce anywhere between 1.5 to 1.7 billion textbooks per annum. That’s not all. The government is laying tremendous thrust on innovative activities for girls’ education, early childhood care and education, interventions for children belonging to backward and needy section of the society. There is a thrust on computer education especially for upper primary level. There is a big opportunity for the book printing industry in India; since the preliminary requirements of the SSA include huge quantities of publishing: school wise/EGS centre wise incentives of free textbooks and notebooks, teaching materials and information system etc. The state government textbooks are printed by empanelled printers selected through a tendering process. Often such tenders see unhealthy compe-tition leading to unrealistically low rates for printing. Huge compromises are then made in the production process, in terms of machines, consumables and quality control. This, in turn, leads to poor quality in production as well as delays in supplies. At times, one has to educate the state board government authorities that one three-side trimmer is the equivalent of three or four automatic cutting machines in productivity of trimming books. And similarly, four automatic pinning machines is equivalent to one online saddle stitching machine. Make and age of machines, special attachments, capacities – these are often not given much importance. In most cases there are no gradations for vendors. The ignorance among government authorities and the unhealthy competition deter highly successful printers who can produce books with better presentation quality. The rate card of NCERT, the premier national textbooks publishing body is a good example. For binding 1,000 signatures of A4 size book, the rate is about Rs 40 (about $1). That means a book of 10 signatures will fetch 40 paise – this is less than the cost of adhesive used in binding the book. Ironically, their tenders have always seen more and more new printers joining the bandwagon. Private education Private publishing The other side of the spectrum is the enormous growth seen in Investment in Private education. With growing income, the huge Indian middle class queue up to send their children to private schools. Today this is a significant part of their annual spend. There are the private publishers who produce textbooks and guides based on the various national (ICSE, CBSE) and state syllabus. Every such segment has a few national players; many more at the state levels. One can estimate about 700-800 million books per annum from this segment. Even in this segment we’ve witnessed a high level of fragmentation and competition. This ensures that the cover prices are very low. In fact India may boast the record for producing and selling the ‘cheapest’ textbooks in the world. “When a textbook on physics reaches a teacher for evaluation and recomme-ndation, there are 30 plus options on the table. The books maybe in different sizes, varying in presentations and in price; but how can the teacher evaluate so many books and decide which is the best for his / her students? Even if your teaching is based on a new book, it will take months before realising if the product (read content) is good. So, then, content is no more the king. It is price and relationship with teacher and school that sells the book. The low entry barrier in publishing ensures that the pressure on pricing is huge,” says Vivek Govil, President and CEO of Pearson Education India. (At the GLOBALOCAL Conference in New Delhi). Also, this makes the value chain unbalanced. Because the student at the top of the pyramid is willing to pay the right price, which is much higher than what the publisher is staking his claim to. (It is only the books on specialisation or super-specialisation subjects that command a premium). The cost of books, as a part of the school education budget in India is a humble 5%. We are not talking about the subsidised books published by the government. For example, a student studying in a private school in Mumbai, following the state board syllabus, would spend anywhere between Rs 20,000-40,000 per annum (about $450-900) on school fees alone. As against this he or she will spend a maximum of Rs 800-1000 ($22) on textbooks, guides and workbooks - all put together. This is an example where the consumer can afford and is willing - but the supplier is not in a position to ask. As there is no value realised, huge levels of compromises are made on both presentation and content quality. Content is often “cut and paste”. Poor quality of paper (50 gsm cream wove white printing paper from a b-grade paper mill is the norm), compromises on design to reduce cost, mono-colour printing, shabby binding and so on. This has made companies like Pearson to focus on complete solutions - including training sessions for teachers, educational aids, question banks, workshops etc; where the book becomes one part of the package and its value is realised in relation to the solution. The academic publisher will forward integrate and invest in educational institutions, thereby realising the full potential of the content. Issues in distribution India is a large country and the rural India still has places that cannot be reached by motors. The free books seldom reach there. The private publishers stay away due to logistical issues. Unless the infrastructure develops in such areas, this will remain a major deterrent. We may need to think out of the box to provide solutions in the short term. For instance in 2009 during a heavy monsoon spell, thousands of school-going children in Bagalkot, Raichur, Bijapur, Koppal, Gulbarga and Gadag districts were distraught that their textbooks and notebooks were washed away in the monsoon floods. If their parents were worried about rebuilding their damaged houses, the children were disappointed at losing their books, with half the academic year over. Responding swiftly to their plight the textbook society, which was established by the State Government, had issued circulars to the Deputy Directors of Public Instruction (DDPIs) in the flood-hit districts to distribute textbooks stored in the block-level textbook godowns (in each taluk) for sale, free so that the children did not lag behind in the studies. The above incident underscores the disparity between India’s haves and have-nots. Even though publishing – and particularly educational publishing forms a large pie of the print market, most of the ‘better’ printers stay away from this for obvious reasons. Lessons to learn Today, a pricing battle is transpiring in other countries, as well. In December 2010, the US Supreme Court affirmed a lower court decision on “the pricing of products made outside the United States.” This has implications for textbook pricing because it effectively prevents the new introduction of low-priced academic books. That’s because internationally sold goods usually work like this: the manufacturer produces two types of the same product. One is expensive and lavish, intended to be sold in the developed world. The other version is cheap and basic, intended for sales in Third World countries. Textbooks work like this too. The real barrier that many students have to accessing inexpensive textbooks is that publishers will only sell them the expensive, lavish version. Publishers make the cheap version, which is really all the students need, but the economic version is available in the developing world. The case came down to this: if the producer makes something intended for foreign sales, can American companies buy the product abroad and sell it cheaply back in America? A victory would have meant yes, and might have allowed Americans to buy textbooks for less money. That would greatly cut into publishers’ profits. This is a victory for American printer-publishers. Perhaps a cue for Indian book printers to tread a similar path, soon...

I came across this quote: "Contributors should have some pity for the editor and poor compositors. We should take pride in writing a clear and beautiful hand in our own language ... Especially when writing for a publication, everyone should regard it as his sacred duty to be doubly careful." The author is not a compositor or typesetter. It is Mahatma Gandhi and going by his advise, it seems nothing has changed since 1919. Statesman, author, printer Very few know that Mahatma Gandhi was an astute printer, publisher and journalist. Gandhi edited Indian Opinion, Young India, Navjivan and Harijan. On 7 Sept 1919, Gandhi bought out the Navjivan weekly. However, the British government was threatened by the critical writings of Gandhi. Since no printing press owner was willing to risk its business by publishing reports against the government, Navjivan felt the need to acquire its own printing press. Gandhi counted bad printing an act of himsa (violence). He insisted on clear types, durable paper and neat simple jackets Today, Navjivan's annual sales turnover is Rs 1 crore. These are mostly from highly subsidised in-house publications. Add-itional revenue is generated through the copyright of Gandhi's collected works which adds up to 1,000 books. This includes his autobiography, My Experiments With Truth published in 24 foreign lang-uages, including Braille. A glance through Gandhi's body of work is impressive. Gandhi counted bad printing an act of himsa (violence). He insisted on clear types, durable paper and neat simple jackets. He knew costly books in attractive jackets were out of the reach of readers of a poor country like India. During his lifetime, the Navajivan Press printed many books at a low price. His autobiography in Gujarati was priced 12 annas. There was also a cheap edition of this book printed in Devanagari. Gandhi had simple, practical suggestions. He felt children's books should be printed in bold types, attractive paper, and each item should be illustrated with a sketch. He preferred thin booklets. They do not tire out the children and are easy to handle. Curiously, Gandhi was not obsessed with saving money while printing. Once the Navjivan Press decided to publish a Gujarati translation of Gokhale's writings and speeches. The translation was done by an educationist. When the book was printed, Gandhi was requested to write the foreword. He found the translation poor and stiff and asked it to be destroyed. When he was told that Rs 700 had been spent, he said: "Do you think it desirable to place this rubbish before the public after spending more on binding and cover? I do not want to ruin people's taste by distributing bad literature." Gandhi stopped printing his journals when a Government order restricted him. His press was confiscated, his files were destroyed, his co-workers were jailed. He was never discouraged and remarked: "The press has a role to play. It has to become the people's Bible, Koran and Gita rolled in one. A newspaper predicts that riots are coming and all that sticks and knives have been sold out. It is the duty of the press to teach people to be brave, not to instill fear into them." In today's times, the print industry has a lot to learn from the Father of the Nation.