Best Paper Award (April 2016) | “Removing Barriers to Literacy: Marrakesh VIP Treaty”

Dear All

Recently I published a conference paper in TIFR-BOSLA National Conference on Future Librarianship Innovation for Excellence which was held on 22-23 April 2016 Mumbai India.

The title of the paper is “Removing Barriers to Literacy: Marrakesh VIP Treaty”, for the said paper I had received One of the Best Paper Award (Three Papers Selected for the Awards).

Abstract of the Paper

Keeping conformity with the essential goals of equal opportunity, non-discrimination, access, thorough individual progress, actual and comprehensive involvement in society, the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Publish Works for Persons who are Blind, Visually Impaired or otherwise Print Disabled (hereinafter, the Treaty) truly stabilizes human rights and intellectual property rights (IPR), which was approved by representative from World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO).

The goal of the treaty is to end the book famine – the fact that only about 7% of published books are made available globally in accessible formats, such as Braille, audio and large print, and DAISY formats.  In the developing world, the figure is less than 1%.  This situation is partly due to barriers created by copyright law, barriers that the treaty seeks to remove.

The Treaty will facilitate import of accessible format copies from the member states by the Indian authorized entities such as educational institutions, libraries and other such institutions working for the benefit of visually impaired person.  This will also facilitate translation of imported accessible format copies and export of accessible format copies in Indian languages.  The Indian Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 is in harmony with the Marrakesh Treaty.

My attempt from this paper

In spite of the huge challenges ahead, the society were upbeat about the future. “There are some very exciting things happening with technology that are going to make blind people more and more equal”. “As we look ahead and we create the channels for inclusive education and inclusive services and create a much more inclusive society, you can’t help but be optimistic,” “It can only get better if we come together and manage to move along the things that we are doing, like the Marrakesh Treaty and if we can make technology more responsive to the needs of people with print disabilities, we have a great life to live.”

The Marrakesh Treaty is not only a treaty by and for persons with print disabilities – it is also a treaty for libraries, for societies, to help them become more inclusive and fair.  It is the first international legal instrument, sanctioned by a UN agency that can help the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to carry out part of its purpose, to promote respect for the inherent dignity of persons with a print disability.

On practical front we would request to other contracting parties please give their consent in terms of ratification or accession for the treaty to come in to force, as per Article 15 treaty will enter into force only after three months when 20 eligible parties have deposited their instrument of ratification or accession.  Till date only 15 parties had deposited their instrument.

On behalf of the LIS fraternity we would request to the remaining countries please give their positive consent on the treaty at the earliest.

Note | If anyone is interested in full text of the said paper please drop a mail to me on pralhdsha@yahoo.com

Regards

Pralhad Jadhav

Senior Manager @ Library

Khaitan & Co

Best Paper Award | Received the Best Paper Award at TIFR-BOSLA National Conference on Future Librarianship: Innovation for Excellence (NCFL 2016) on April 23, 2016.  The title of the paper is “Removing Barriers to Literacy: Marrakesh VIP Treaty”

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