The launch of the bibliography in New Delhi

The Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation, Calcutta, is compiling a web bibliography of all works by or on Rabindranath Tagore, sponsored by the ministry of culture, to mark the poet’s 150 years. A first for India, the bibliography was formally launched in Delhi on January 9 by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.

“This has taken 18 months to get started and I think another year is needed for it to gain more comprehensive shape,” secretary of culture Jawhar Sircar said.

“No Indian author has been similarly documented. It was a huge task to Romanise the various scripts according to international standards. If the website now lists 9,000 books published in 42 languages, we may have some 20,000 titles in a year.”

Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation director K.K. Banerjee said the website, www.rrrlf.gov.in, where the bibliography is hosted, is user-friendly. The books have been categorised under various heads: language, title, author and subject. Compilations have been arranged according to subjects, such as appreciation, biography and interpretation. Each category carries information about the number of books available on the specialised subject, publisher and date of publication. The availability of a book in a particular library has also been indicated.

An interactive platform has been provided. This ready reference tool will have printable options and a printed volume of the Tagore bibliography will soon be made available along with a searchable CD.

Ho history

She spent hours shuffling through dusty archives in snake-infested record rooms of Chaibasa, West Singhbhum, to get an insight into the lives of the Ho tribe of Jharkhand.

More than five years later, Sanjukta Das Gupta was thrilled to see the fruit of her labours in print. Adivasis and the Raj: Socio-economic Transition of the Hos, 1820-1932 was launched before a full house at Oxford Bookstore on January 4.

The author, who occupies the ICCR India chair at La Sapienza, University of Rome, and is an associate professor of history at Calcutta University, said: “When I started my research, I was very disheartened to see people’s lack of knowledge about this community.”

There were times, she said, when she thought the book would never see the light of day. “But, on the whole, I had a lot of fun writing this book.”