The National Book Trust (NBT) by the Ministry of Human Resource Development has decided to launch a “Corona Studies Series” in wake of the recent crisis. According to a press release by NBT, it said, “Realising the extraordinary psychological, social, economic and cultural significance of Corona Pandemic for the human society in times to come, National Book Trust, India, the national body for book publishing and book promotion under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, is launching a publishing series titled ‘Corona Studies Series’ to document and to provide relevant reading materials for all age groups for the post-Corona readership needs.”

Prof. Govind Prasad Sharma, Chairman, National Book Trust, India added, “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 suitable platform to authors and researchers willing to contribute in this genre.”

The NBT study group comprises of Dr. Jitender Nagpal, Dr. Harsheeta, Sq. Ldr (Rtd.) Meena Arora, Lt. Col. Tarun Uppal, psychologists and counselors Rekha Chauhan, Sonie Sidhu and Aparajita Dixit. 

The groups aims to “develop methodologies and practical tips to deal with situations, helped by easy-to-assimilate reading materials on various segments through research, virtual interviews and case studies. This shall help in overall empowerment and awareness to deal with the lockdown and keep the optimum emotional strength and courage.”

Some of the books to be prepared by the study group includes “Corona Virus (Covid 19) Affected Families”, “Elderly People”, “Parents with Special Focus on Mothers/Women”, ” Children and Adolescents”, to name a few.

Also read: HRD Ministry launches #StayHomeIndiaWithBooks initiative