The Little Book Of Documentation

TheLittle Book

ofDocumentation

~Anita Cheria -- Edwin

~

the lit tle book of doc u men ta tion 2

the little book of documentation

anita cheria; edwin

September 2004 [second edition]

first published 1999

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in side in for ma tion1 What is doc u men ta tion? 4

2 Be fore you start 7

the skills3 The ABCs 11

4 Other re lated con sid er ations 20

5 Po lit i cal cor rect ness 27

6 Gen eral con ven tions 30

7 Get ting in for ma tion 36

in ter nal doc u ments8 Let ter writ ing 40

9 Pro ject pro pos als 44

10 Pro ject re port writ ing 53

11 Case study 55

12 Pro cess re ports 62

13 Work shop re ports 76

14 Mak ing doc u ments at trac tive 79

15 Com put ers 83

16 In for ma tion man age ment 90

17 The writ ers’ check list 93

into the pub lic do main18 Pub lic do main writ ing 98

19 Pub lish ing 109

20 Pub lic ity and re views 124

21 Un sold pub li ca tions 130

22 Re spon si bil ity 132

23 End note 139

1What is documentation?

So you want to do documentation. This bookwill tell you how. We will go from the basics ofreporting, to case studies, to the morecomprehensive process reporting, and then towriting a book. We will have a brief look at ways of making your report attractive to the reader byusing different fonts and also page layouts. Thenon to publication and distribution. All from thepoint of you, the author.

This book first deals with the basic writingskills that you will develop. Then the skills andtips for specialized tasks. First the trade and thenthe tricks of the trade. Let us start from the mostbasic principles of writing.

Documentation is literally the preparation ofdocuments, or keeping records. It combines themundane journalistic skill of mere superficialreporting with a more keen eye for detail.Documentation can be written, or audio visual. In this book we will use ‘documentation’ to meanthe written skill only. Documentation is to writing what a documentary is to cinema.

The second most important part ofdocumentation is how much information you can


retrieve, and put to work for you, in time. It doesnot matter how much information you have. Ifyou have a million book library, and cannotaccess the particular information that you need intime, you are actually worse off than a personwho does not have a library at all.

Why document at all?All documents must be intelligent, intelligible,

coherent and interesting.

The most important part of documentation isgetting people to read your document. For thatreason, publication and distribution form a major, and integral, part of documentation, and thisbook.

NGO documentation is primary for thesereasons.· To support your work. This includes:

° Training manuals.

° Literature for beneficiaries. In this casedistribution is taken for granted.

· To share ideas and experiences, so thatothers can use them. These include:

° Case studies. But be clear about theirappropriateness. Does anyone really want to read them?

· Capture indigenous knowledge since it isneeded and fast disappearing.


· Share knowledge, innovation and newtechnologies.

· For advocacy. To change how people think,and then how they act.

· Policy analysis.

· As a part of a campaign.

· To raise credibility.

° It could be an ambassador for theorganization and make its expertisevisible.

· To become an information provider on aspecific topic.

· To generate income.

Decide which of these reasons is the one foryou. A myth is that good writers write perfectlythe first time itself. Not so. Each documentundergoes many revisions before it is even halfway presentable. It takes time and effort. Yet,good quality documents are not difficult.

Do you take photos? Then think of it this way.Every photo cannot be good. And, in professional photography, one star photograph in ten rolls andyou are lucky! But it is only for special occasions that professionals are got in. For most occasions,the simple focus–free camera is better. And youcan do wonders with just a little bit of effort.Concentrate on your successes and strong points.


2Before you start

Documentation is one of the easiest things todo, if we follow a few simple guidelines andremember basic human psychology. Before youeven put pen on paper, it is best to use the ‘WH’rules, in this order. We will be using these rulesagain while writing.

WHY am I documenting this?Have a measurable response to this. Normally

it is for three reasons.· To inform.

· To persuade.

· A call to action.

WHAT do I want to say?Say it in one sentence as a check against

overloading, and a check for clarity. A saint wasonce asked to explain his philosophy standing onone foot, in one sentence without taking a breath.A good practice for all writers as well.

WHO is the intended reader?Have just one reader in mind, preferably a real

person. Then the writing will flow better. Thinkof the person in terms of gender, age, education,


rural or urban, interests, income, and what elseshe reads.

WHEN is the document needed?At an event? A season? Work your deadlines

backwards. For instance, if the document isneeded on 15 August 1947, then you should startwriting much earlier. Say a week for the actualwriting, two weeks for interviews and reference,a week for editing, two weeks for typesetting and proof, and two weeks for printing.

Add another one week ‘just in case’. So you’dhave to start writing nine weeks earlier—on 7June 1947 itself. And this is being quiteoptimistic.

WHERE is the document going to be used?· In libraries.

· In the field.

· How long does it have to last?

After these ‘W’ questions, we come to the ‘H’.

HOW?This is the final step, and is to be done only

after the previous questions have been answeredfully. If the process has been followed, then howthe document will best suit the intended readerwill be clear.


Now decide the following.· Language.

° Which language will be used?

° How specialized or how technical?

° How formal, emotional or factual?

° How simple a vocabulary?

° Which measurement units to use? [This is specially so for translations].

· Medium [Which is best: print, audio visual?].

· Format [book, brochure...].

· Formality of design.

· Length.

° How much information should be given?Your document can often be twice as good if it is half as long.

° Simplify and reduce, but do not leave outfacts. Be careful, don’t change the idea.

Should we publish?All documents must be interesting. But all

documents need not be published. If the intendedaudience is large, and the purpose supports it,then it may be better to publish.

Even if you do not want to publish thedocument, it would be fruitful to go through these additional questions.


· Quantity.

° How much do we need? It is normallycheaper to go in for reprints than go for a higher print run the first time.

· Budgets.

° This decides the quantity to be printedand the quality of the printing material.

° How much people can pay for thematerial could also decide this.

If you do not have this information, it is likelythat you are documenting for someone else. Inthat case, get a written terms of reference.

The terms of reference should include the enduse of the report, the preferred style, and theaudience for whom the report is written.

Writing a report, printing a report, andpublishing a report are three different things.They are specialized tasks, and should not beconfused with each other. Write a report always.Print only if more than 200 people are willing topay for it.

Publish it if it is of relevance to a larger bodyand if you can ensure that you will distribute over 60% of your print run within the first year.Publish only what has lasting value for thegeneral public. Be committed to a strongdistribution system if you publish.


3The ABCs

The ABCs of documentation are:Accuracy,Brevity, andClarity.

AccuracyAlways be accurate in your facts. Facts are

sacred, but comment is free. Do not understate oroverstate. It might not bring you instant stardom,but once your integrity is recognized, yourreward will be much more long lasting.

Don’t get carried away by your own analysisand opinions. Do point out the unusual. Butoverall, give the people the facts, and let themcome to the conclusions themselves. Treat themas adults. They will give you the same respect.

The duty of a writer is to report facts andreflect reality. Good news should not bemanufactured. But even the most macabre can bereported and documented with sensitivity.

BrevityBrevity is the soul of wit, and all good writing.

In this world no one has the time to read throughlarge articles, unless they are forced to. What has


to be communicated has to be in a page. Foranything more, follow the rule:

First, tell the readers what you are going totell them.

Next, tell them.Finally, tell them what you told them.

That is what we are doing in this book. Thefirst paragraph of the first chapter told you whatwe are going to tell you. Then the whole body ofthe book tells you. We have skipped a summingup chapter—which would have told you what we told you. By the end of the book, you wouldn’tneed it anyway. So we decided to save on thetrees, the paper and printing costs. Instead we putin the check lists.

Avoid asides. This chapter could have started‘The ABCs of driving are the accelerator, brakeand clutch. Similarly, the ABCs of writing are..’.The reader may like it, but does not need it. Itdoes not add anything. The present opening ismuch crisper. Keeping your document briefmakes people want to read it. Short documentsreduce the cost of production and distribution.

Generally a newspaper article should be about1200 words, any other article about 1500 to 2000 words. Specialist journals have varyingrequirements, most often between 4500 and 5000 words, and a book 25,000 words upwards. If you


are not sure how long your write up should be,then it is better to be as short as possible. If yourarticle is really interesting, then the editor will get back to you and ask you to expand on ideas. Allthat you know need not be put into onearticle—or one book.

The golden rule is: be short, be sweet, be gone. People simply do not have the time to readthrough long winding reports or books, andpeople whom we would like to influence valuetheir time in minutes, if not seconds. The oneminute manager is a reality in all walks of life.

ClarityRemember, what is very clear to you need not

be so for the reader. Use short sentences. Usesimple words. The objective of a writer is tomake the readers understand what is written, notto overawe them with words they don’t. At theend of the day, people prefer the writer who talksto them, not the one who talks down at them—orone whose writings need a dictionary as acompanion volume.

Be particularly careful about words that younormally use. They can have different meaningsfor a person with a different background. Avoidjargon, unless you are writing for a very smallgroup that you know intimately. Using cliches


may be bad ‘literature’ but it is good writing. Ithelps people understand with the minimum ofeffort. Cliches and jargon should be used only tomake things easier to understand.

How many really understand—or would wantto—what a ‘paradigm shift’ is? Yet how often isit used in NGO meetings?! Good ‘literature’ often gets critical acclaim and left on the shelf. Unlesswhat one writes is read, the very purpose ofwriting is defeated.

Consider the following sentence:Community building for improving the lot of

BPL is a good strategy, that has proved itsworth.

This seems to be a fairly straight forward piece of writing, but in the NGO sector ‘communitybuilding’, means organizing the people. BPL, forthe government and those working for povertyeradication means the people ‘below poverty line’ and not the popular electronics company!

There is actually the case of an auditor whowanted to see the ‘community building’ before he signed the audit statement. One possiblealternative is to spell it out:

Organizing the poor...

If you are sure of your subject—and youshouldn’t be writing otherwise—then you will


be able to explain even the most complex ideasin simple words. If not, most people try todazzle using bombastic language.

It is our experience that non-creativeacademics are most prone to insecurity, and thustry to hide behind obscure language. Here arethree ways in which a common task can beobscured by the expert cited by Richard SaulWarman in his book ‘follow the yellow brickroad’.

Name some thing that in volves:· An understanding of geometry, spatial

relations, algebra, manual dexterity, strategic planning and allotment of resources.

· Many technical processes, arithmetic, timing,aeration, biology and behavior of materials.

· Politics, economics, linesiology, gamestrategy, psychology and sociology.

The answers, incredibly enough, are making adress, following a recipe and football.

When an author writes ‘I hope this project will initiate a mutually rewarding editor-authorrelationship’ the editor knows the meaning is ‘Ihope you will publish my article’. It is usuallybetter to write ‘use a spade’ rather than ‘employ a geotome’. If you write employ a geotome, thereader might use it on your work first.


When Raj Kapoor was making movies, healways advised his music directors and songwriters to keep the songs simple. He said that hewanted songs that ‘people can hum on the wayback from the movie, and whistle during workthe next day’ and not technically perfect songsthat win critical acclaim, appreciation from theaudience, and are forgotten.

When Karl Marx wanted to inform he wrote abook: Das Kapital. He refused to simplify it for,as he told his publisher, the working class willunderstand it as it concerns them. When hewanted to persuade, he wrote a tract: Thecommunist manifesto. But when he needed a callto action he coined a slogan: ‘Workers of theworld unite’. Any guesses which is rememberedmost? How many, even among the intelligentsia,have read Das Kapital? All are needed, but thepurpose is different.

Use the word with the exact meaning that yourequire. Use the simplest words. Developmentliterature does not need flowery language nor thewealth of the dictionary. Use words tocommunicate, not to impress.

The task of the writer is to demystify.Naturally, that cannot be done if what is beingwritten about is a mystery to the writer also. A


writer is successful only when the writing is read. Not for nothing do we have the phrase simplicityof genius.

The rule to watch here is KISS MII[pronounced kiss me], keep it short and simple,make it interesting. The first, obviously, need notalways apply in real life kisses, but the second?Always.

The ‘Wh’ rulesHow do we start? The easiest way is to answer

these following questions: What, who, when,where, why and how. You are more than half way there already. Then come back and fill in thedetails. Asking the right questions is an art, moredifficult than getting the right answers, andrequires more skill.

What happened, and to whom? When andwhere did it happen? Why did it happen, andhow? The order is not rigid. For instance, if theplace is the most important, or ‘newsworthy’, part of the story, then the ‘where’ comes first.

The model could be a newspaper report thatanswers all these questions in the first paragraphitself. The next paragraph elaborates on some ofthe important information and the third typicallygives background information.


The same report could have variations innuance to capture the interest of the reader. Thesame factual statement can be reported differently for different audiences. Editing out irrelevantdetails, and simplifying the language are part ofthe effort.

Ex am ple

For a gen eral au di ence

The fiftieth anniversary of Indian Independence was

celebrated on 15 August 1997, at Rashtrapathi Bhavan

in New Delhi, by President K R Narayanan.

For a dif fer ent au di ence

The first Dalit President of India, K R Narayanan,

celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of Indian

Independence on 15 August 1997, at Rashtrapathi

Bhavan in New Delhi.

An other ex am ple

For the gov ern ment

The prime minister said that attempts by the adivasi

to claim their rights are the major cause of the atrocities

against them. Government servants are implicated.

For the po lice

The police are often guilty of colluding with the

criminals when the adivasi try to claim their rights said

the prime minister today.


For NGOs

Adivasi attempts to claim their rights are a major

cause of the atrocities against them. The police side

with the criminals said the prime minister.

This is what the prime minister actually said.Attempts by the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled

Tribes to break away from this syndrome of deprivation

and improve their lot and claim what is rightfully theirs,

are often the principal cause of the atrocities that are

perpetrated on them. There is a lack of sensitivity on

the part of the police and the district administration...

The law enforcers themselves, in many cases, fail to act

promptly or collude with the other side.

In all the reports, the prime minister ismentioned since the authenticity and impact ofthis well known fact is reinforced by who said it.To whom he said it, when [at the inaugural of themeeting of chief ministers on 4 October 1991]and where [in New Delhi] are not nearly soimportant. They could be omitted or retaineddepending on the audience you are writing for.


4Other related considerations

ProximityThere are several rules to be followed. All are

meant to be broken. The first is called the‘proximity’ rule. People are interested in what isnear to them—and interested in what they arealready interested in. All of us like news aboutour native place.

News about humans takes precedence overanimals, and animals over plants. In animals,those more human than, say, a new species oflizard. This is the way human nature is now.Perhaps at some future date we might beinterested in all equally, but till then reportingshould follow this.

Pegging: intellectual judoHow do we get someone interested in what we

are interested in, and what is only of passing orno interest to them? The answer is pegging—likepegging the Indian experience on the African.First talk about what interests them. Then, onceyou hold their interest, connect it to what interests you. This is called ‘pegging’ because you pegyour idea on their interest—just as in judo youuse your opponent’s strength.


If you are writing for an African audienceregarding the progress of India, you could startby telling them that both India and Africa wentthrough bitter colonial experiences. This makesthe problems, trials, and successes of India easierfor the audience to identify with, and thus tounderstand.

This rule actually follows from a ratherelementary practice: speak in the language thelistener understands. Similarly, use the idiom thereader understands.

Pen–paintIt is difficult to read and understand

abstractions—particularly new ideas andconcepts. So try not to write, but pen paint. Useimagery—the more vivid the better. Humanbeings think in images. Capture theirimagination, and you capture your audience.Years later, the reader might forget everythingelse but the idea—simply due to the vividness ofthe image you drew. A picture is worth athousand words.

Read the following example:The undivided Koraput district in Orissa was

larger than Keralam. Keralam is larger than allbut three European countries. Yet Keralam isonly 2% of the Indian land mass.


orEvery language in India has more speakers

than the total population of any two Europeancountries.

That holds the readers attention than:Most European countries are very small.

In India, we tend to think in terms of lakhs[100,000, a hundred thousand] and crores[10,000,000, ten million]. The Americans think in millions and billions. Try this one.

One billion is one thousand million.

Most people do not know the scale of thedifference—for all we can grasp is the ‘one’ ineach. It is the peter principle at work.

This could be approached in a different way:A man gave his wife a million Rupees and told

her to spend a thousand Rupees a day and comeback. She came back in three years. Next he gave her a billion Rupees and to her to do the same.She did not get back for three thousand years.

A rather pleasant thought!

ContrastsAnother way to hold the reader’s interest is the

use of contrasts. For instance:The Government of India says that rural

development is a priority and spends Rupees30,000 crores on rural development in the eighth


five year plan. But it spent Rupees 40,000 croreson the dearness allowance [DA] alone—excluding salaries and other perks—of itsemployees, who form just one percent of thepopulation. Rural India is about 80% of theIndian population.

After the pay commission the increase for thecentral government employees was Rupees 7,500 crores. The annual rural development budget isjust over Rupees 6,000 crores! The turnover ofTATA is over 10,000 crores.

The same information can be rephrased:The pension and salaries of past and present

government employees is over 2% of GDP.

OrOne litre of milk costs Rupees 10.00. One litre

of water, Rupees 15.00.

Or another...It is easy for a brave and heroic man to rape

women, burn to death sleeping children, anddestroy places of worship in the name of god and a ‘noble cause’.

These are the opening lines from thesub-section of The Oxfam handbook ofdevelopment and relief on ‘the farmer’.

Most agricultural literature assumes thatfarmers are men. Most extension workers aremen. Most agricultural training courses are formen. In reality, most farmers are women.


Defining momentsEveryone likes to hear of acts of courage, and

defining moments because of the human elementinvolved. The rather dry voluntary sectorreporting hides many such exciting moments.Bring them out.

Ex am ple

In one of the defining moments of the organization,

the founder asked the team individually, and in private,

whether they would be willing to continue working even

if he could not pay them a salary. Basic necessities

would be provided. The eight who agreed were trained

to become leaders in their own right.

Al ter nately

There was an undercurrent of excitement. Yet no one

knew why. It was only later that we—eight of us—knew

we had crossed one of the defining moments of the

organization. Anathan, the founder, asked the team

individually, and in private, whether we would be willing

to continue working even if he could not pay us a salary.

Basic necessities would be provided.

We agreed, but at the time it was a leap into the

unknown. We were then trained to become leaders.

Just a few words changed. But the difference is striking.


HumourThis is one surefire way to keep the reader’s

attention. Putting two unconnected andsometimes contradictory issues close togethermakes an impression. So also modifying popularsayings.

Familiarity breeds.The law often permits what justice and

common sense do not.

For some reason, telling the truth is the mosthumorous of all.

It is better to have loved and lost than not tohave lost at all.

There is no horse trading in parliamentbecause there are only asses there.

Even a dry, serious, piece has the potential forsome sardonic comment, as for instance on themurder of 90% of the tribal and indigenouspeoples in America by the Europeans.

When Columbus’ men reached the shore, theyfell on their knees and then on the natives.

All the arms in the world do not provide thesecurity of one embrace.

You cannot buy a soldier’s honour, but youcan get him to kill for a piece of cloth and ascrap of metal.

Remember, though, that humour is quiteparochial. In different circumstances it can be


misunderstood and achieve the very opposite ofwhat is aimed at. There are wet blankets.NGOs—whether non government organizationsor non gazetted officers—are not going to takekindly to a person who calls them no goodorganizations or officers!

Most would also wonder what is so funnyabout calling CIA ‘caught in the act’, or IAS tomean I am stupid. Try to keep humour down toearth, which more people can relate to, thancerebral humour which may be above the headsof your audience.


5Political correctness

The sensitivities of people, specially theexcluded and the marginalized, must be takeninto account. A few years ago it was OK to talkof the handicapped, then it became disabled, andnow it is challenged: the visually challenged, etc.It is not mentally challenged though. The rightterminology is ‘differently enabled’. Similarlyfrom depressed classes, to harijans, to SC/ST toDalit. Within the country itself, there is a lot ofdebate if one should use Dalit or not. It seems tobe OK where the Dalit movement is strong, notso in others. In some places it is actually hated.

Gender biasFortunately, there are enough gender–sensitive

words that we can use. If you do not know who is going to chair a session, for instance, use thegeneric chairperson or chair. If you do, usechairman or chairwoman as appropriate.Similarly for spokespersons... When we becomesensitized to age we will probably use chairsonand chair daughter.

The following is from The Times of India,Bangalore, 10 January 1998, pc vocabulary for


the nineties woman, by Gita Aravamundan. PCstands for politically correct.

Nineties PC is not always relevant to the Indian

context. I’ve coined up a few definitions which the

Indian writers on gender issues might consider using:

Adjusting: [She was an adjusting wife, mother...]

personality obliterated human being.

Allow: [I allow my wife to work] patriarchal ‘consent’

given to an independent woman.

Bride burning: gender specific matrimonial arson.

Dowry harassment: victimization of involuntary

recipient of matrimonial inheritance.

Domestically trained or homely: [in matrimonial

advertisements] willing domestic slave.

Eve teasing: street sexual harassment

Female Foeticide: gender selective foetal carnage.

Female infanticide: gender selective infant massacre.

The article itself has a large part written in‘aggressive feminist pc vocabulary’ and is quiteinstructive. Use of humyn, instead of human isalso advocated. Some NGOs, and we, use thefeminine ‘she’ to include the masculine ‘he’.

Short–hand codesBe aware of the short–hand codes: merit, for

instance could mean no reservation noraffirmative action. Beneath very progressivelabels hide some very reactionary ideas. The‘uniform civil code’ is another political


instrument for Muslim bashing. ‘No dowry’means the daughters do not get a share ofancestral property. ‘Conversions’ mean it is OKto rape defenseless women, and burn sleepingchildren, and ‘dharma’ to kill the Dalits.

Keep your antenna out. Being politicallycorrect is important. Otherwise you mightalienate your readers. On the other hand, goingfull tilt with a fad may make a bulk of thereadership wonder what you are talking about.Euphemisms are constantly going out of date,and new ones must be invented as the oldbecome more explicit needing yet another levelof veiling.

Writing alone has not changed the world, andnever think that your writing alone can. Theburden of change is on all—and will outlast usall. By all means write with messianic fervour ormissionary zeal but don’t use the club when therapier will do, and always try the feather first.


6General conventions

The conventions for credit and references have evolved over time—and are still evolving. Due to the all pervasive computer, the standardizationhas been to the American system. It differs onlyslightly from the British who, with the loss oftheir empire, have also lost the right to set thestandards of the world. Rest assured that there isno ‘correct’ way. The only need is to beconsistent, and to ensure that your idea isconveyed.

Giving creditAcknowledgments are often the bane of a

researcher. A person with a doctorate often hasthe bitter experience of the ‘guide’ or seniorprofessor taking credit for the researchers’ work,and therefore continues this practice. This is anunfortunate reality. A people’s scientist shouldstrive to get beyond this syndrome.

Give credit freely and wholeheartedly.Mention all those who have helped in any wayand how they have made this work possible. Donot tuck it away in small print. There are manyresearchers who dare not enter the places wherethey did research—the people are so hostile since


they have subsequently realized that theresearcher has made use of them. This is also thereason that people now ask ‘you will get yourdoctorate, what will we get?’

Spend time with the people. Tell them whatyou have written about them. Explain how youare going to use the information. Reporters ofmany newspapers and magazines have the policyof not showing the final transcript to theconcerned persons before printing. Do not followthat line. If our objective is smooth social change, it is best to carry all sections, as far as possible.Most people will be content to know that thisoption is available.

Give lots of credit to everyone and anyoneeven remotely connected with the work. You canafford to. The people give their time andknowledge freely—knowledge that is gainedthrough generations of actual field experienceand experimentation—unlike the academics whooften demand consultancy charges to share theinformation that they have got freely from thepeople. The least you can do is to acknowledgeyour sources. Mention how you were helped byeach individual. Contrary to popular perception,it actually enhances the reputation. The peoplewill love you for it.


At the same time, do not be apologetic ordefensive. Though the people at the grassrootshave the knowledge and, perhaps the skills, theydo not write much. As long as the writeracknowledges that the field work is being doneby others, there is no reason why the writershould not claim credit for breaking the story,though others are more knowledgeable and havebeen ‘working on the issue’ for decades. Thosewho carp on that are usually those who want toretain their fiefs. There is no need for writers toobey their dictum.

Acknowledge and give full credit to those who are working on the field. But take fullresponsibility—if not the credit—for your report.Respect the people, but do not romanticize them.Acknowledge and value their contribution, but do not undervalue yours.

ReferencesBuild the references into the text. Give all the

details in a bibliography at the end. Keep thesesort of references and notes to the minimum.They are more an indication of insecurity, lack ofscholarship and of pedantry than of knowledge.Any halfway intelligent senior school student can compile a good bibliography. Only a creativeperson can come up with new ideas.


Ask yourself, does the reader need to knowthis? Always keep the reader in mind. In thisbook we have mentioned those whom we havequoted. Has it helped your understanding? Would it have been better to put at the end, and explaineach one’s contribution? You decide. Then do the same for your books.

If you must use footnotes, then the first time areference is quoted, you could give the wholereference as a footnote. The format is:

author; name of book; publisher; year; pagenumber.

The author’s last name is given first, followedby the initials and the first name. The name of the book is usually in italics. The page number ispreceded by ‘p’: [p16] if it a single page; or ‘pp’if there are more: [pp23-30].

If you are only quoting an article from a book,then mention the name of author of the article,the article, the author or editor of the book andthen the name of the book.

Das, W M D, Perils of the JFPM MOU, inWinnu D, Forest Dwellers Today, ....

If the book has more than two authors,mention the name of the first author followed byet al:

Singh, V P et al; Experiments with Democracy


In the bibliography, at the end of the book orarticle, mention all their names.

The second time onwards, use either ibid or op cit. Ibid is used when you are quoting from thesame source as the one previously quoted.

Das W M D, Perils of the JFPM MOU; inWinnu M D, Forest Dwellers Today,...p 16.

If you are quoting from the same page—in this case page 16—the next time without any otherreference in between, then the footnote shouldjust read

ibid.

If it is a different page, it could beibid, p 23.

In case you have quoted some other referencein between, then you use op cit., together with the name of the author. The page number should beadded if required.

Joshi N M, op cit., p16

If the volume in question is a collection ofarticles edited by someone, then the name of theeditor should be mentioned, followed by ‘ed’. Ifthere is more than one editor, then it is mentioned ‘eds’.

Singh K P and Fernandez, W (eds); ForestDwellers Today,... p 16


If you are quoting, put the original commentsand authors brackets in rounded brackets ‘( )’ and your own additions in square brackets ‘[ ]’.Always indicate if the emphasis is your own orwhether it was there in the original. The emphasis in the original is normally shown as italics, whileadded emphasis—the ones you have added tohighlight your point—are shown as bold italics

This raises the question, what if the originalemphasis was in bold italics? Easy, just add anote saying “emphasis author’s”. If it is yoursyou say “emphasis ours”.


7Getting information

All those involved in documentation shouldhave access to the latest information. This doesnot mean that we have to buy all the books. Justbe aware of where the information is available,and how soon you can access it. Ultimately it allboils down to that: how soon can you get therelevant data?

Very often the information of priority for us isnot so important to others. It is only to have ready access to the particular data and information, ofinterest to us, that we need and use frequently,that we collect and classify ‘cuttings’. This is one of the easiest ways of documentation. In itssimplest form, this means taking a pair of scissors and cutting out material of relevance. Yes, allright, you can do it even without a pair ofscissors. Use a blade then.

First of all, chose areas of interest to you. It isbest to keep it to the minimum. Let us assume the areas you require information all the time are:women, law, Dalits, Adivasis, and the politicalsituation. At a glance we can see that most of thenews fall under these categories.


In fact, ‘women’ itself is so comprehensive asto merit quite a few specialist resource centres. Itis best to be more specific as:

Women [gen eral cat e gory]

within which sub-categories could be:· Law.

· Education.

· Political situation.

· Economic situation.

· Social and cultural; Religious.

and many more ...

You can have a special category for animportant event, for instance general elections, or world summits. Professionals opine that even two are too many for an individual. Up to a maximum of five areas of interest seem to be manageable, if you run a professional documentation centre.

For individuals, it is best to stick to one topic,and specialize on information in your locality,district, province, country and the globe—preferably, but not necessarily, in that order.Know where you can get other information.Specialize and know the other specialists.

How do I...?Keep a pencil and mark the passages and

articles that interest you while reading. Do this


the first time you read itself. Very often piousintentions of getting back to important passagesat the second reading results in just piousintentions. As soon as you finish reading, cut outthese pieces, clearly marking from where you got it. Paste it onto a clean paper. On the paper, writedown the source and date on which you got theinformation. Use the same size of paper forsticking cuttings on, right through.

Keep these sheets in a loose-leaf folder, boxfile, or in a box made for the purpose. Classifythem according to the sub-categories that youalready decided. At the end of the month, neatlyarrange them, and put them away where they canbe reached easily. Label them clearly.

At the end of the year you might want to bindthe material. Bind your special topics separately.You could bind your data either all together inone volume, with divisions for the sub-categories, or different volumes for different topics. Thisshould, in large measure, be determined by thequantity of data you have.

The material you get could be from manydifferent sources. Popular news magazines andnewspapers apart, specialist journals andnewsletters are rich sources of information.Directories of professional bodies are another


good source. You should have access to the latestcensus data, the world reports, the status ofchildren and women and the importantnewspaper and magazine addresses.

The World Bank, the UNO and UN agencies’reports have official data from all countries,classified under different heads. Reports ofministries are published annually and contain the‘official’ data. The more comprehensive data isstill from the World Bank, the UN and UNagencies, since the government of India givesthem the data they don’t share with Indians.

Voluntary organization newsletters have awealth of information. They are almost alwaysfree, and many are irregular. Depend on them forinformation, but not for punctuality—thoughthings are changing here also. Keep a keenlookout for these occasional publications.

The best information is still with the fieldbased organizations that are too busy to write. Go out and meet them. Later, the data that youcollect like this can be made into information you can use quickly.


8Letter writing

Your letter should be well drafted anddesigned. It is often the first contact a person haswith you. Those one hundred words make thefirst and crucial impression.

OfficialKeep them as short and as brief as possible.

Two or three lines is ideal. Not more than a pagein any case. If you have to give moreinformation, give it in additional sheets asannexes, with a covering letter highlighting themain point in a sentence or so.

The person who reads your letter has ahundred decisions to take, and will appreciate anaccurate, brief and clear presentation. The ABCshold good everywhere. Add a personal note, nomatter who you are sending it to. Postscripts arethe most read parts of a letter.

Never send a letter with a xeroxed signature,or signed ‘for’. If a person has the authority tosign for the director, she certainly has theauthority to take such a decision—so why can’tthe decider sign it?

Moreover, it conveys a subtle meaning that the real authority does not have the time for the


reader—many people throw such letters into thedust bin—or that the person is very dictatorial,highly insecure and cannot delegate.

For mat

From

Your address comes here, if you are writing on a plain

sheet of paper. Omit this is when using a letter head.

To

The address of the person you are sending it to.

Reference: This is the reference number or filing

codes.

Dear Sir,

Subject:

Text of LetterSincerely,

Signature

[Name]

[Place]

[Date]


Ex am ple

From

Change Agents

23, Market Street, Bagalur Village and Post

India 110103

To

The India Desk Officer

India Philanthropy Foundation

221B, Bakers Street, New Delhi 110001

Reference: IPF/prop/05/2001

Dear Sir,

Subject: Project for help line for street children

Enclosed is a project proposal to set up a help line for

street children in the four metros in 2000–2001. The total

outlay is Rupees 20 million, inclusive of 12% administrative

costs. Kindly contact us for any clarifications. Looking

forward to a favorable response.

Sincerely,

Nitish Joshi

Nitish Joshi

Bangalore

23 January 1999


PersonalWe live in a very depersonalized and

depersonalizing world. Letters help us regain that human touch. Always write personal letters byhand. Then the personal bond comes through. By all means send typewritten letters. But even themost awfully copied poem is better appreciated.Totally personalize it. Do you have personalcodes? Use them liberally.

The format for this varies. As long as thereceiver understands who it is for, and who it isfrom, there are practically no limits. It caninclude any number of languages, styles anddialects, including slang and drawings.

The objective in informal personal letters is togive a person a part of you. How much you wantto give depends on the strength of the relationship at present—and how much you want it to be inthe future.

A variation of the personal letter is the loveletter. While some of the best writings are on theadventures of the heart, the language of the heartstill eludes our grasp. Love brings out the latentpoet, and even the halting speaker suddenly turnseloquent. While these are undoubtedly documents of tremendous value, no one seems to need anycoaching for it.


9Project proposals

Project proposals and other such requests forsupport are important documents. In them youcommit yourself to a certain course of action,based on an analysis of the present. Preparingyour document well and attractively does most of the work in getting it sanctioned.

Have a cover sheet which gives the name ofyour organization, address, title and duration ofproject, objectives of the organization and theproject; total project costs, local contribution,local institutional donations and foreigncontribution required, and bank account number.It should also indicate the legal status.

State your objectives. Then the process bywhich you propose to fulfill them. It is goodpractice to have a brief history of yourorganization, and the audited statement ofaccounts for the previous three years. Theseindicate institutional capacity for carrying out theproposed programme.

Many government departments andinstitutional donors have a particular format forproposals. Remember, while private donors donot mind if you budget three chairs, and buy


three benches instead, if you do that in agovernment programme be prepared for endlessrounds of questioning and also stoppage of funds. When the government says three chairs, it meansthree chairs, not three sofas, not three stools, butthree chairs.

The proposal should be as short as possible,but as comprehensive as necessary. Though youhave only one proposal, the project officer has tolook through many, and is also human. Give anabstract that shows the linkages between all theactivities—both between the existing and theproposed, and between the different componentsof the proposal.

Even very flexible institutional donors have aformat for the budget. Use it. Some insist on a ten percent allocation for staff training, institutionbuilding... Even if they don’t it is good to havesuch an allocation. Most prefer institutional andadministrative costs to be below 15 percent.

Do not under– or over–estimate either yourgoals or your expenses. It indicates lack of touchwith ground reality. It is a surefire way of gettingyour proposal rejected. Even if the appraiser does not know your area, she will get many proposalsfrom there and will be able to do a comparative


analysis. If you feel your estimates are on thehigher or lower side, it is better to explain why.

Send the proposal to one donor only. Youshould get a reply in a month. If you do not youare free to approach another donor for support.The project funding cycle is usually—though notalways—from April to March. Appraisals start by late October, for the coming year. Send yourrequests by mid–October, so that you have plenty of time for approaching as many donors aspossible. If you are approaching multiple donors,inform each of them of all the others you areapproaching and the percentage you would likeeach of them to support.

Donor agencies specialize, geographically andsectorially. So your chances are better if youapproach the one which supports the issues youtake up. Child Relief and You, CRY, for instancesupports interventions that take up, naturally,children’s issues.

There are cutoffs for donor support. Somehave a ceiling—they will not support more thanRupees one million a year—or a floor limit—they will not support a group with less thanRupees one million a year. Take your pick.

Don’t let that discourage you. If one donorcannot support, and the initiative is deemed


necessary, then they will either make anexception, or direct you to the right place. Lackof money has never stopped a dedicated group.

Pro posal proforma

A request for support, your project proposal, must be

clearly distinguished into two parts. The first is about

the organization. The second about the programme for

which support is requested. It is good practice to have a

section on how your project helps your supporters fulfil

their policy objectives.

Most donors prefer proposals to be less than ten

pages long. Anything more, have them as annexes.

Even donors who request longer proposals ask for an

‘executive summary’.

Or ga ni za tion data· Name of organization and full address. All

addresses should include the pin code.· Contact person and designation.· Telephone, fax, telex, e–mail account. Include

the country and area codes.· Bank account number, name and address.

Anal y sis of the sit u a tion, prob lem and fo calcom mu nity

In this section describe the situation and

developments that influence the proposed work.

Answering the following questions could help.· What is the situation in the project area?· What are the changes?· What caused them?· How can they be solved?


· What are the problems foreseen in trying tosolve these issues?

· What is the position of the community withinsociety?

· What are their problems and needs?· How did you define these needs?

Ob jec tives, strat egy, ex pected im pact, gen derper spec tive· Intervention strategy: What are your

organization’s short–term and long–termobjectives, and how do you plan to realize them?

· Expected impact. What improvements will youmake in the lives of the community?

· How will you attain social and economicimprovements in the position of women whowork in your organization and for yourprogrammes?

· Explain the connections between objectives,strategy, expected impact and genderperspective in the relationship with the analysis.

Man age ment

How does your organization function? Are there any

relatives on the board or staff? Explain how the

decisions are taken.

Send information on:· Organization structure.· Staff policy.· Monitoring and evaluation policy and systems.· How you improve skills.· Gender ratio in different posts.· Gender ratio in income.


His tory· Accomplishments.· Strengths.· Weaknesses.· Problems encountered.· Lessons learnt.· Steps taken to translate these lessons into

policy.

Co op er a tion pat terns

This is a good section to have if only to show your

reach. For all of them indicate whether it is at the policy

level, implementation level or both.· Who else is working in your area? You could

indicate areas of commonalty and divergence.· Which networks are you a part of?· Do you cooperate with the government? What

are the conditions? At what level?

Fi nanc ing

Give your total budget for the last three years. Break it

up into· Local contributors, individual.· Local contributors, institutional.· Government funds.· Own income.· Foreign donors, individual.· Foreign donors, institutional.· Foreign donors, government.

Indicate the expected funding for the next two years.

Mark clearly those that are not yet confirmed.

Fu ture per spec tive· Expected growth.· Expansion of activities.


· Expansion of geographical reach.· Plans to become self–supporting.· Possible withdrawal strategies and time.

This ends the section on the organization. The next

deals with the programme.

Back ground in for ma tion on the pro ject

Why is the project needed?· Problems and needs in the project area.· The situation of the focal community.· A map of the project area.

Ob jec tives· Long term objectives.· Short term objectives.· How do they fit in with the organizational

objectives.

How this pro ject helps the sup port ers to ful filltheir pol icy objectives

For this you will need to research your supporters.

Find out what their key policy objectives are. Then

explain each in detail. Most have just one or two key

objectives.

His tory of the pro ject

This is if it is a continuing project. In which case· What were your accomplishments in the previous

periods?· What were the strong and weak points in

implementation?· If you are approaching a new donor for an

ongoing project, explain why.


Pro ject prep a ra tion

This is sometimes called need identification.· How did you identify this need?· Who planned this project? The NGO,

government, the affected people themselves... ?

Pro ject ac tiv i ties

Explain each of the activities. Include how you propose

to do them: the strategies. Distinguish between output

and impact. Output is the concrete, quantifiable data.

Impact is the sustained changes in the community that

will take more time to be visible.

For each activity have:· Background data.· Expected results.· Finance required.· A time frame.

In sti tu tional com pe tence· What is the institutional expertise that you have

to implement this programme?· How are you going to strengthen this capacity?

Include staff training and such measures.

Co op er a tion pat terns

Here mention only those that are relevant and have

direct impact on the project.

Sustainability

This is a new catchword.· Cost benefit ratio. [Include both the financial and

social aspects].· Feasibility. If it is a relatively big project, have an

independent feasibility study or, if it is small,compare it with similar projects near by.


· Can the project become self–supporting at some time in the future?

· How does the project help in making thecommunity sustainable?

· Will the project impact negatively on theenvironment?

An nexes· Articles of association or trust deed.· Audited financial statements for three years.· Registration under the FCRA.· Budget.· Map of project area.· Project implementation calendar.· Annual reports for past three years.· Evaluations for the past three years.· Case studies and other publications.· Photographs.


10Project report writing

A good project report ensures that your nextproposal is sanctioned. Keep as close to the truthas possible, though success might lead to flightsof fancy.

State your objectives. Then the process bywhich you went about fulfilling them. State theresults. Next do an analysis of why you exceeded or did not achieve some of your targets. Explainwhy. There could be important lessons for youfrom both. If your actual results are way off themark—by more than 10% in any case—then youprobably are not in tune with ground reality.

Base the report on your proposal. If there is anover– or under–achievement in any sphere—programme or budget—explain why. It usuallyindicates bad planning or lack of foresight. Youbetter have good reasons ready: some could beout of your control, others not quite so. Itemize.

Do not under–report your failures or go overboard with your success. With the emphasis on‘peoples participation’ NGOs now tend tounder–report their role and present all the workdone as if done by the people. Be honest. Projectofficers have an equally good understanding of


field reality, and will appreciate respect for theirintelligence.

Government departments and institutionaldonors have a particular format for reporting.Stick to it by all means, but do not stop at that.Share your joys and sorrows with them, even ifas an annex. This could be a case study or two.Most formats for reporting take away the humanelement of the work. Our task is to put it back in.Don’t worry, they will be interested. Rememberthe proximity rule.

Re port for mat

Always refer back to your proposal while writing your

report. While certain heads such as organization details

remain the same, a few heads will need to be added.

Sig nif i cant de vel op ments

Prog ress in · Fulfilling objectives.· Project activities.· Institutional development.· Cooperation.

Prob lems· What are they?· How have you solved them? or· How do you propose to solve them?


11Case study

All interventions have specific impact. Someof it can be expressed through numbers—humans love good figures—some of it can be illustratedby the changes that were brought about.Underneath it all lies the bedrock: whatsignificant impact, if at all, did the interventionmake in the lives of ordinary people.

It is this that the case study deals with. Casestudies put back the human being as the centre ofdevelopment. It can even be in such ‘boring’things as selecting the second line leadership orthe new ‘core group’.

A case study traces the impact of oneintervention, or a combination of them, on oneentity. In some cases, the ‘entity’ it covers couldbe a group of people, such as an entire village ororganization. Since the objective of a case studyis to put back the human element, it is most oftenbest to deal with one person.

Start with the situation in the area before theintervention. Then narrow it down to the personon who the focus will be. Take the events inchronological order. Point out the struggles, andtriumphs. Draw attention to the emotions, the


support and hostility, the personal traumas.Remember, we are documenting a human story.Do not hesitate to bring in the human emotions.

End with the unfinished tasks, and the nextareas that the person or community will address.Do not give the impression that one particularintervention solved all the problems—thatnormally is not the case. Give credit to theexternal supporters and the tide of history.

Using the worst case scenario for the ‘before’intervention makes good copy—it makes theachievement all the more significant, with thecontrast. Do not fall into the trap. It is notnecessary either. A person told us, if we were toread all the project reports and take them at facevalue, all the problems of poverty have beensolved many times over. Once you lose credibility, it is very difficult to regain it.

Case studies are for very many differentreasons. Some of them are:· To illustrate a point in 20 to 30 words.

· A short case study of a person affected inabout 100 to 200 words.

· A longer case study.

· A composite [or fictional] case study.

· A quotation from an affected person.

Each requires a different approach.


A good case study can be written in 250 words or less. The following case study is to illustratethe point that men and women react differently to revolving leadership.

Ego of a CEO

Change Agents has a revolving leadership. After

women complete their term as the CEO they go back to

their previous roles. Men, however, do not relish the

idea and often leave the organization.

Being personal is an integral part of the casestudy. Case studies show the progression ofchange—for good or bad—in the life of a personor community. This one is quoted from theorganization ACCORD’s documents.

Plant ing the seeds of growth

Through 1986 and a part of 1987, Stan visited every

field where the planting operation was in progress. The

following year he was not really needed... A few years

later we had a highly skilled planting team. Locals—who

had earlier said that Paniyas were not capable of

learning such a skill—had to eat their words as they

came to ask the Paniyas to help them lay contour lines.

The following is a longer case study. All casestudies need not be as long.


To wards self–sus te nance: A fist ful of rice

Programmes cannot be self sustaining if outside input

is required forever. So there have been many attempts

to make the programmes sustainable.

In this arena of self sustenance, Change Agents does

face obstacles. In the villages initially covered, Change

Agents took the role of delivery, without contribution

from the people. So the people got used to getting

without giving. Now it is proving to be difficult to get

them to contribute to the programme.

One method is to collect a fistful of rice or millet,

locally called ragi, per day per family. This is put in tins

kept next to the fireplace, so that the women can

contribute to the nutrition programme. At the end of the

month, all this is collected at the balawadi. At present,

grains sufficient to run the nutrition programme for

fifteen days are collected in this manner.

Though Change Agents is continuing efforts in the

direction, it is a Herculean task. Where they started

working later, the people’s contribution was ensured

right from the start. The progress and contribution in

these villages has been much more significant. Change

Agents insists on contributions, however small, from the

people to nip the dependency syndrome in the bud.

Thus, while the conceptual and programmatic

progress of Change Agents has been tremendous and

constantly evolving, the picture is not all rosy. Some

islands of resistance do exist.


The pa ter nal state syn drome

One illustration of the breath of intervention is that at

the anganawadi. The instance of total reliance and

depending on Change Agents has been cited above.

The government runs anganawadis, child care

centres, in villages. These cater to the children just for a

part of the time—from 10.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. A meal

is served there for the children during that period.

During two months in 1995, for some reason, the

government did not provide food grains for the

anganawadi. The people were at a loss as to what to

do. Some parents asked Change Agents to sponsor the

programme. Change Agents, they knew, would not

refuse due to its concern for children.

Indians are specially prone to the paternal state

syndrome. It can perhaps be rationalized, but the

detrimental effects on self–reliance and action are a

reality. It is one of the challenges of the NGOs to make

the people retake control over their lives and not expect

others—specially the government—to do even the most

basic tasks for them.

It is a measure of their surrender to this syndrome

that the proposition of Change Agents took them all by

surprise. They were asked why they couldn’t make good

the temporary shortfall—for the children were theirs!

They had not thought of it on those lines at all and were

hard pressed to reply. However, Change Agents assured

them of support on condition that they also contribute

towards one meal. After discussions, they agreed.

After the government resumed supply of provisions,

Change Agents was able to continue a good three meal


programme for fifty children at the cost of just Rupees

800 per month to itself.

The children now are in the balawadi the whole day

and get three wholesome meals. For this minute input,

Change Agents can find donors even from within the

country . This sort of cooperation is what Change

Agents’ interventions will be moving towards. A part

each by the· The affected people themselves.· The government, and· Change Agents, which will channel external

support, whether from within or outside thecountry.

In this situation, when parents—even those who can

afford to do so—look for external assistance to feed

their children, one can see the feudal dependent

psyche that leads people to look outward, specially to

the state, for benefactors. On the other hand, one can

see the retreat of the state at the macro level. Thus

there is a vacuum created, as also a gap between

people’s expectation and the capability of the state to

fulfil these expectations.

It is this vacuum that civil society, in the form of NGOs,

seeks to address and fill. This gap will only get larger in

the following months and years, as the state—that

encouraged the people to focus all expectations on

it—retreats even further and is unable to fulfil even

minimal expectations.

The role of NGOs is going to be that much more

difficult, as they also strain to close an ever widening

gap while facing a resource crunch themselves.


Change Agents’ action plan of involving the people,

the government, and external supporters, is in the light

of this scenario. Since the gap is bound to grow larger,

enabling the people to close the gap by depending

more on themselves and initiating action for change

without looking for external actors becomes a necessity.

This should be a priority for NGOs who, even at the best

of times, cannot adequately fill the vacuum created.

When we were documenting Adivasidisplacement, we had this unforgettableconversation with an old Adivasi woman.

“What would you do if you become sick?” weasked her.

She did not pause even for a moment.“First I’ll pray to our god. If that does not

work, I’ll try a sacrifice. Then I’ll go for thetreatment of our doctor. Then I’ll try countrymedicine. If all of them fail me, then I’ll go to the government hospital to die.”

“But these are bad times. Now parents burytheir children. Who will be there to bury us?”

Direct quotes have a lasting impact.

Notice that the language itself becomes muchless formal. The use of short forms “I’ve”, “I’ll”,and “can’t” gives the authentic touch. Don’t overdo it though.


12Process reports

A process report is to documentation whatsystems analysis is to computers. It needs ahigher degree of understanding of complexity, awider grasp of reality, and a greater skill ofsimplification. A process report is, by definition,never complete. This is simply because processes themselves seldom are.

A case study, often several of them, form thecore of a process report. A process report covers a much larger time scale than a case study. Thescope of the process report is much wider than acase study. It has to be a stand alone documentthat can give a comprehensive picture of the local situation to the reader. The different perspectivesand changing expectations during the processneed to be traced.

A process report is more than just stringingtogether case studies in that micro-macro linkages are also covered. Obviously, one then needs tohave a good grasp of the local, regional, nationaland international situation. This knowledgeshould be as eclectic as possible covering thesocio-political situation, economics, culture,environment at all these different levels.Knowledge of the policy at the conceptual and


implementing levels, [they are different!] policymaking and implementing bodies are necessary to give a holistic picture.

We hope you noticed that ‘eclectic’ is the sortof word one should not use. A similar word, forinstance ‘wide’ or ‘varied’, would be preferablesince most readers would understand ‘wide’ or‘varied’, but usually not ‘eclectic’. Similarlyavoid jargon such as ‘micro–macro linkages’.

Process reporters should at all times be awarethat information is part of work. This means read, watch and listen to anything you can lay yourhands on—from the holy scriptures to hardpornography and anything in between. If at allyou have moral qualms about it, consider it a part of the job. If you are still weak hearted, thenprocess reporting—or any of the informationwork—is not your cup of tea.

In the following report some of the nameshave been changed.

One woman’s story

The impact of the total integrated intervention of

Change Agents can be traced from the changes in the

life of Vanitha.

Vanitha belongs to a village in India. The village was

identified by the jatha team for Change Agents’

intervention. At the first meeting, she was a shy person,


sitting in a corner of the room that had about 80 to 90

women. When it was proposed that the meeting start

with a prayer song, the village women were a little

reluctant to sing due to shyness, since it was the first

time. But from the corner, Vanitha started singing—and

that too a classical song.

This seeming ‘forward behaviour’ at the first meeting

showed but a glimpse of her potential, and hid the

personal crisis that she was undergoing. At the time,

she was a broken women. She had lost her husband.

He had developed liver problems due to heavy arrack

drinking and had died a slow, agonizing, death. She

was left with two daughters to look after. Moreover, she

is a Dalit. All these are heavy burdens to bear, more so

for a young woman. Village communities seldom have

enough space for a young widow with other handicaps

in the forefront of the community.

Before Change Agents came to the village, the village

used to come together to celebrate festivals and other

functions such as weddings. That tradition was slowly

dying out. The village justice system—though it had only

men—was also breaking down. It was at this juncture

that Change Agents came to the village, and a union

was formed in it.

The women were taught to conduct meetings and

other social skills. The women of the village were united

in this forum. This was the first time that they could

come together and share their problems as women. It

was such a relief just to talk to each other. From sitting

at home, in isolation as it were, it was a big step to

share their joys and sorrows.


The sharing was on everyday matters at first, and then

went on to more general themes of common good.

Children’s education, hygiene, electricity, state of the

bore well, drainage, road repairs, group activities and

unity were all discussed. Then, after the group moved

on to savings and credit management, they also used

to decide whom to give loans to and other related

matters. Slowly the breadth and depth of their

discussions increased.

As the group took on more responsibilities, the

discussions also changed. With such encouragement,

Vanitha began to come out of her shell and bloom.

Vanitha, together with the Change Agents team, created

space for herself and became the leader of the village

women’s group—the Mahila Sangha.

Sav ings and credit man age ment

The women used to save between Rupees five to

thirty every fortnight. In three years their total savings

crossed Rupees 35,000.00. They propose to start a

Women’s Rural Development Bank. From January

1995, they have started to take loans also. The loan

amount can be up to twice their savings.

Loans are disbursed at 24% interest per annum. This

compares favorably with the local money lender’s rates

of 120%. Most of the loans go for buying seeds and for

small household necessities. Since the money is

deposited in the bank, the women have also learnt how

to operate a bank account, and to sign their names.


En vi ron ment

The village common lands were not being put to the

best possible use. So the women asked the

authorities— both the civil and the social—for permission

to use the land. On getting permission from them, the

women planted over 300 saplings, at the rate of five

per family. Medicinal, fruit, timber and green fodder

producing varieties were planted.

Initially, all the members took care of the trees, but

later it was found easier to have one family to take care

of the community wood–lot. The union and Change

Agents assisted them in this programme. Enthused by

the programme, they took up a popularization

campaign with the slogan ‘one family one tree, one

village one forest’. Now, from their own forest they get

green fodder, other food for animals, the birds no longer

migrate, and it benefits the poor in many different ways.

The em pow er ment pro cess

Gradually, Vanitha started helping in the balawadi and

getting involved in other activities. It was not long

before she was recognized as one of the most active of

the union members. So when the village faced

problems regarding electricity, it was but natural that

she was part of the group that went to set things right.

Though there were electricity poles put up and the

lines were drawn, there were no street lights there. Due

to the darkness, slush in the rainy season, and the

snakes, it was difficult for the children to go to the night

school. Repeated representations to the panchayat

member from their village brought no response. So the


women decided to go directly to the electricity office

and meet the concerned person.

Twenty women walked more than five kilometers to

the mandal panchayat and met the chairman. Being

the first time that they were meeting such a high

official, they were naturally hesitant and a bit

apprehensive. Opening the conversation with a

polite—even diffident—namaste, the traditional Indian

greeting with folded hands, the women told him their

problems. Some were so overwhelmed, that they were

literally trembling during the discussion.

He was evasive and non–committal. He said that it

was a problem everywhere and that there was no

provision in the budget for it. This was not the truth. The

fact is that the allocation was diverted for something

else. Anyway, since he said that he would do what he

could and asked for a week, the women went back.

When nothing happened even after a week, the

women returned. This time the man was abusive. On

coming to know that they were from the mahila sangha,

he alleged that the women were being instigated by

Change Agents, else how could they get the courage to

question him? The women retorted that they did not

need to be instigated to get their problems redressed.

Giving the officer another eight days, they went to the

Block Development Officer, BDO. Since it was the day of

the weekly market, he thought that the women had

come on a pleasure trip and casually dropped into his

office. On hearing their request, he was also abusive.

He said that the women primarily came to the fair,

and used the excuse of making a complaint to get out


of their home on the particular day. He was gently

reminded that he was supposed to be a public servant.

When he did not agree to the installation of the lights

even then, the women said that they were like his

children and he like their father. They wanted a

commitment on the lights immediately. They were firm

that they would not leave the office otherwise and

made it clear to him. He pondered for a while and then

asked them to give him a rope to hang himself and

commit suicide.

The women, in a mature response, replied that it was

not their intention. They even made light of the issue

saying that if it happened then they would not get their

request. They reiterated that they would not leave till the

lights were sanctioned. Conceding that he had met an

irresistible force, the BDO phoned the panchayat office

and gave the order for installation. The street lights

were put up post haste. Even now, the fused bulbs are

replaced immediately.

Rip ple ef fect

This confidence in dealing with the government was

put to good use in other areas also. They requested,

and got, mini tank. So also a request for a new building

for the anganawadi. Enlarging the scope of the

anganawadi, related above, was also in this village.

Almost the same process was followed by the women

to get a milk cooperative sanctioned. Going to the

district manager of the milk cooperative, they were

brushed off by him and asked to ‘come tomorrow’. They

stayed there overnight and when he came to the office

the next morning, he was surprised to see the women


there before him. He asked them how they had

managed to get there so soon from their villages. When

they replied that they had not gone back but had spent

the night there, he was even more shocked.

Impressed by their determination, he sanctioned a

cooperative, the first general body meeting of which

was held on 7 June 1995.

Rec og ni tion

At first the men of the village did not recognize the

potential of the group. This changed only due to the

activities undertaken and the fair amount of success

achieved. The road to the village was in disrepair.

Despite the efforts of the men, it could not be made

good. It was not motorable. The women paid for the

road repair from their savings. Change Agents

contributed a part. The men were also cooperative and

helped in the work.

With recognition coming their way, the union has also

gained confidence in itself. They want to construct a

new building for the anganawadi, and also petition the

district commissioner for a bus to their village. They also

participate, and in some cases lead, struggles at the

state and district levels.

In spite of this, it is not a road of only successes.

Though they were in the forefront of the anti–arrack

campaign in the state, they are unable to totally stop

the consumption of arrack in their village.

To wards sol i dar ity

With growing confidence, the women felt the need for

unity at a broader level. Initially, their method was to


keep it small, so that they could solve the problems in

their village. They felt that if they could solve the

problems in their village, they could do it anywhere.

Once they got the confidence of problem solving in their

village, they decided to reach out to the others.

To this end, Okuta, the federation of the unions at the

taluk level, was formed and also one at the district level.

Three women from each of the 104 villages come. Now

they are joined by women of other villages also. The

objectives are the unity of women, awareness and

solidarity. It takes collective decisions regarding

trainings to be conducted, invitations to government

officials, and policy matters. In fact, it was here that the

anti–arrack campaign was decided up on.

One of the wishes of the founder of Change Agents

was that all the women in the villages where Change

Agents works should meet. As their confidence grew,

the women also expressed such a desire. So on 5 April

1995, about 6000 women came together for a

solidarity camp. The women contributed Rupees

140,000 of their own savings for the programme.

The solidarity camp was an emotional experience for

all. For the Change Agents team, it was a long

cherished dream come true. For the women, they were

meeting together for the first time. That day was made

into a very special one for them. A village band walked

in front of the women, leading them to the venue. This

is a very high honour in the village, given only on rare

occasions for very important people.

From the road, they literally got a red carpet welcome.

At the meeting itself, the children showered flowers on


them as part of the welcome song. All this was a heady

mix. Tears glittered in the eyes of many women in this

emotionally surcharged moment.

It was not all glitter only. Five papers were presented

by the women and the guests—the minister, the local

MLA etc.—were asked to respond. Vanitha read out a

paper on alcoholism. The other papers were on Women

and Housing and other related issues. The local MLA

was in charge of housing. So he replied to the paper on

housing, and the Women’s Development Commissioner

replied to the paper on Women and Development.

Naturally, this was the result of a lot of spade–work.

The process was set in motion almost a year and a half

before the actual function. The women were trained

and given adequate practice to read and explain the

papers they were presenting. At the end of it all, it was

well worth the effort. One note of sadness was that the

founder was not present, though his spirit certainly was.

A jour ney of a thou sand miles: the anti–ar rackcam paign

Every journey, no matter how long, starts with a single

step. The anti–arrack programme was a combination of

awareness creation and banning the sale of arrack in

the villages. Initially, the shops in far off places were

exempt since the men could not go a long distance for

arrack at night. The first thing tackled was the shop in

the village.

The union wrote letters to the Chief Minister. The

dealers got wind of the move and picked up a quarrel

with the union. They also tried to get the police on their

side against the women. Strong words were used.


The vendors were told that the union would

recommend alternate income generation programmes

for them. Though they were ostensibly agreeable, they

were not too keen in practice. There were two vendors,

and both continued their trade in the pretext that the

other would not close. Each wanted the other to close

first. Finally the women surrounded the shop and forced

its closure. This is only a partial victory, since under the

counter sales continue, on demand from the men.

Vanitha had a personal stake in this. Her husband

had died in 1987 due to alcoholism, after an

excruciating illness for two years. She wanted to ensure

that it did not happen to anyone else. Since her mother

looks after the home, her daughters and the farm,

Vanitha has some space to be actively involved in the

federation and campaigns.

Scal ing up

It became clear as the campaign progressed, that

banning arrack should be a policy of the government.

So the agitation was intensified for that. The state

network of voluntary organizations was roped in.

Women conducted demonstrations. The movement was

recognized as a potent one and the then Congress[I]

government gave an assurance that the sale of arrack

would be banned after 15 June 1995—a date

conveniently after the elections.

This was partly due to electoral compulsions, since

the elections were fast approaching. They needed the

votes from the women, and the money from the liquor

lobby—hence the equivocation and the stalling. But they


were voted out of power, and the new government is

not so sympathetic.

Twenty thousand women signed a petition to Chief

Minister Gowda requesting the ban. When the women

were having a demonstration in Bangalore, on 17

March 1995, they went to request him to come. They

met him at his house. He did not stop to talk to them,

but kept on walking. Vanitha, with quick thinking, ran

ahead, blocked his way by standing in front of him, and

greeted him with a polite ‘namaste’.

With his escape route cut off, he had no option but to

listen to their request. By this time the rest of the

delegation also reached. After listening to them he

excused himself saying that he could not attend their

meeting since the budget session of the legislative

assembly was on. The delegation however got an

assurance that he would send a minister, and not a

bureaucrat, to the meeting. This was agreed upon and

two ministers, the minister for minor irrigation—an

unintended comment on the issue!—and the home

minister, attended.

Per sonal growth

When the World Bank officials came to see for

themselves the manual desiltation of tanks, she sang

the ‘prayer song’—a song on the role of the tanks in the

life of the people. The officials were so impressed that

they took back with them to Washington a recording,

transcription and a translation of her song. Even today,

she composes and sings songs.

From the trembling appellant in front of the panchayat

official to the confident, quick thinking, leader accosting


the Chief Minister, is quite a journey. The

self–confidence gained on the way is enormous. She is

recognized all over the district. She has come on

television. All parties woo her for the elections.

Though the growth of all the women are not so

spectacular, it can be said with confidence that some

form of empowerment has taken place for all the

women due to the intervention of Change Agents.

The report is part narrative and part analytical.Inclusion of some quotes will dramaticallychange it and bring it to life.

Re writ ten

“Get out from my office”, he said.

“How can you say that? You are like our father”, the

women doggedly replied. “In any case we are not

leaving till we get a firm commitment”.

The BDO paused for a while. In desperation he said

“Give me a rope to hang myself”.

“But that won’t get us our lights”.

They got their street lights.

See how the people develop personalities thatjump out of the page in conversation? Think ofyour audience. See if they will like it. If they do,you could reconstruct the exchanges.

One thing you could notice is the use of thetext design itself to give a particular message.


The rather heavy report is made slightly bearable[we hope!] with the use of subheads.

The paragraphs in the conversation in therewritten part are short and crisp. The ones in theanalytical report are longer with blocks of text.They add to the formality or otherwise of the text.

To wind up, here is an anecdote, withoutcomment. After their historic first heavier than air powered flight, on 17 December 1903, at KittyHawk in U.S.A., the Wright brothers sent atelegram home to their sister saying ‘Firstsustained flight today 59 secs. Hope to be homefor Christmas’. Their sister promptly showed it to the editor of their town newspaper. The next day,the headline read ‘Popular Bicycle Merchants tobe Home for Christmas’.


13Workshop reports

Workshop reports need to highlight thecontent. Keep in mind why you are reporting theworkshop. Then the end use of the report and theaudience will be clear. Otherwise the report willbe a catch–all, and useless.

Workshop reports should have the key pointsmade in each presentation. Include the examples.The most important part is to include the keyissues raised in the discussions. These discussions are mainly of two types.

One, the questions from the floor and theclarifications by the experts. The next are theareas of divergence. Report these in detail. If aconsensus was reached, report why. Elsehighlight the differing view points and mentionthat no consensus was reached.

Speeches need drastic editing for coherence.Edit so that there is a logical flow of ideas.Connecting paragraphs will have to be put in.While the speaker and the listener can make theconnections, on paper each idea and the links will need to be spelt out for the reader. This needsdiscernment. A good grasp of the subject isinvaluable. There is a positive side too. A speaker


has to get it right the first time. A writer has a lotmore time to polish it up.

Reports should be published only if they areuseful, but not as monuments to the conference.Even then, publish only papers that are useful. Ifpublication is promised, and the authors are given good guidelines, then it is more likely that quality papers are submitted. Cut out the introductorytalk, the list of participants, the schedule, thephotograph with everyone smiling like atoothpaste advertisement gone wrong...

Before publishing conference proceedings,save yourself a lot of time and trouble byfollowing this simple system.

At the end of the conference, if the meals were served on time, all participants would suggestthat the proceedings be published. Agreeimmediately. Next ask them to go back, checkwith their organization how many copies theywould need, and then write back to you howmany copies of the report they would like to buy.Insist that it be given in writing so that you‘know the exact number to be printed foradministrative reasons’.

Rest assured you will not get even one reply. If there is that rare breed of persevering delegatewho writes back, tell the truth: there are too few


requests to justify publication. For the sponsors, a two page summary and a set of resolutions willbe sufficient.

If all the papers were circulated at theconference, this summary report and a copy ofthe resolutions are enough for the participantsalso. For your records, bind these together withthe papers presented, the list of participants...That is all that is required. The participants willhave their own full sets of documents. If they feel it is of lasting value, they will get it bound.


14Making documents attractiveMost authors put in a lot of effort on their text.

That is good. Once the text is ready give equalattention to the presentation so that thedocuments are attractive. People should want topick it up. Think of it this way: There is such alot of material competing for the readersattention. How can we make them choose ours?

Remember way back in school the girl whogot better marks because her handwriting wasbetter and her book neater? That still holds good.The document must be neat. Good design isimportant.

Headings and subheadsCreate a strong title or headline. This is what

people scan first. Do not use jargon. Make people want to pick it up from a bookstore shelf. Titles,sub–heads and captions must be catchy. Use theKISS MII principle.

Since these are the parts of the document thatare done at the end, they are most prone tomistakes. For this reason, the saying is that ifthere is a mistake it will be in the headline is true. Always double check the headings, thesub–heads and the captions in the final proof.


The text designLayout and design are important contributors

to readability. Avoid too many references andasides, it makes your work too pedantic. If youabsolutely, desperately, need to have them, tuckthem away as footnotes, so that they do not break the flow of the text. Put the footnotes at thebottom of each page.1

Fonts are of two types: serif and sans serif. Aserif is the small line at the tip of each letter. Thisis said to increase readability, which is why mostbooks are printed in serif typeface. Sans serif ismostly used for headings, leaflets and posters.This book is in a serif font. But the headings,subheads and the case studies [one woman’sstory, ego of a ceo...] are in a sans serif font.

Vary the styles to highlight or emphasizepoints and also keep reader interest. Use bold,underline and italics. Don’t over use them.

Then the reader will be more conscious of thestyles and layout than the content of your writing. Using bold in print is like shouting in aconversation. Don’t use more than two fonts on a single page.


1 For rea son see end of book.

Use simple, strong design. Effective design intype means: a typeface that is easy to read and atype that is large enough to read easily.

Do not change too many type faces or size.The prime concern is to gently lead the reader toyour idea, not confuse with a shower of brilliantlayouts, fonts and styles.

Use of white spaceTake care of the balance between pictures and

text. Too much text is intimidating. Too littlemargins make the book difficult to open and read. Too much white space is a waste of paper andlater, during distribution, of postage.

White space should indicate the transition ofideas between sections and be large enough foreasy continuous reading between lines. Use white space intelligently for the contrast between printand paper, and for contrast between guidepostsand normal text.

Use lines that are neither too long nor tooshort. Fifty two characters, including spaces is the maximum. Short lines are awkward, unless theyare short enough to scan.

Read through the page proofs to see if thereare any chapters that end with just a few lines ona page. Edit the chapter so that it ends on the


previous page itself. Similarly for paragraphs.Paragraphs should not end with just a word onone line. Edit those also. Use of short sentencescomes in useful for this.

Illustrations and photographsIllustrations and photographs should have a

single, clear message. They should give solidinformation or create emotion. Make sure thatthey are technically good.

Give them a caption. The caption should notstate the obvious [‘Two women carrying wood’].It should be as short as possible.

The ‘movement’ of an illustration should betowards the reader or towards the book: From left to right on the left page, and right to left on theright page.

Illustrations have to be in the idiom theaudience understands. Keep in mind the ‘visualliteracy’ of the intended audience.


15Computers

Should you use computers? If you aresystematic, go ahead. If not avoid it like theplague. A computer is a ‘more machine’. If youare good, it will make you better, ‘more’ good. Ifyou are bad, it will make you worse, i.e. ‘more’bad. If you put garbage in, then garbage comesout. Programme it wrongly, and you will find outwhy a computer is a wonderful machine that canmake billions of mistakes per second.

A computer is definitely an asset if you keeprevising material, and specially if you are goingin for offset printing. Errors can be minimized.With a little effort errors can actually beeliminated altogether. You can even format yourentire book with coaching of just a couple ofhours if you are already computer literate, or acouple of weeks if you are not.

When should we buy a computer?The best time to buy a computer and

accessories is September, since the industry gives a lot of incentives for people to buy at that timeto avail of full depreciation. It is a good time tobuy, though more people seem to buy in February and March.


Do not wait for the prices to come down—you will probably never buy a machine, becauseprices are always going to come down. What isrock bottom today will sink even further. Yourconsideration should be on your convenience. Ifyou can afford one now, is it more convenient toget the machine today or after three months? Thelonger you wait, the more ‘bang for the Rupee’you get.

Technology is advancing so fast that unlessyou plan to upgrade your machine every sixmonths, you will not be able to get spare parts for your machine. A couple of years and even getting software is difficult. For instance, in 1992, mostsoftware needed just 1 MB RAM—memory thatcan store one million characters.

At the turn of the millennium anything lessthan 16 MB and good software is difficult tocome by. The norm is to have 32 or preferably 64 MB. This is for normal desktop publishing. Priceis another factor. It is coming down at about 50%per annum. Good pentium 4 machines are nowavailable at about Rupees 35,000—with aDVD-CD writer combo drive, a printer and ascanner and 40 gigabytes of hard disk space. Agigabyte, GB, is a million million characters. In a few months these will be available for even


less—or most likely obsolete. If you decide tobuy a computer, buy the fastest one you canafford. Keep your future needs in mind.

This book is written on our 25 MHz Compaqnotebook, with a 486 mother board, just 4 MBRAM, and a 170 MB hard disk. Quite an ancientmachine by today’s standards. Yet we got it onlyin August 1995.

Since our major work is writing—books orpolicy analysis—with very little numericalanalysis, it serves us fine. For watching moviesand other razzmatazz use the television. For faxand voice mail use a table–top machine.

The important thing is not to let fashionsteamroller you into buying a machine you haveno need for. It is a very rare person who will useanimated computer graphics for presentation inthe voluntary sector.

Most of the entry level machines are sufficientfor the limited data processing needs, and costabout a third of the top–of–the–line models.

Which computer to buy?If you do your own designing, then an Apple

Mackintosh machine is preferable. They are alittle more expensive, but much moreuser–friendly. They have many more features.


There is a saying that Apple 85 is Windows95—highlighting the advanced features of theformer. If you plan on doing only text, then evenan IBM machine is enough.

Regarding upgrades, do one of the following:i Buy a new one as soon as your warranty

expires, typically one to three years. This is ifyou have connected your fax, telephone,answering machine, e-mail, music system,video .... to it. You are not likely to be satisfied unless you have the latest gadget. You areprobably hooked on gadgetry.

ii Buy the best in the market, and keep it for fiveto ten years. Your output—which should be the criteria for computer selection—is unlikely todemand upgrade. Most machines stabilize inthree months, six at the outside. If you are ahabitual insurer, insure your computer ratherthan taking an annual maintenance contract,AMC, it will work out cheaper.

iii If you are buying a branded machine,remember that spares for your machine areavailable only for five years after they stopproduction. This usually means you will getspare parts for your machine, on average, forseven years after you buy it. After that you areon your own. Pentium III is no more underproduction. This is one more reason to buy anunbranded machine, apart from price.


Maintenance contractsIf you do have an AMC, which may be

cheaper in some contexts, check what is, andwhat is not, covered in the contract. Find outwhat preventive maintenance is done by thecompany, and what is the machine uptime theywill ensure. Don’t get rattled with their jargon.Ask them to spell it out. MTBF may be 10,000hours but what does that mean in uptime?Translated, even if ‘mean time between failures’is 10,000 hours, what percentage of the time willthey ensure that your machine will work? Thehigher the figure the better. Get it on paper.

If you decide to use a computer,i Save your work every 10 minutes, no matter

what. This is even if you do have an UPS orbattery backup. Though it does mean that yourwork is slowed down by about 3 to 5%, in thelong run you will be spared a lot of trouble. Ifyour word processor has a timed backupfacility, use it. Then the delay is unnoticeable.

ii Always keep a copy of your day’s work on two floppies. Do not make more than two copies,and always update both. If not, you normallyend up being confused as to which copy is thelatest. Worse, you might update or revise anearlier version, leading to considerable, andavoidable, headache.


SoftwareSoftware is an indispensable part of the

computer. Always buy legal software. Youwouldn’t want someone to pirate your bookswould you? Computerized databases are indispensable for data storage and analysisspecially for data that must be analyzed andretrieved in different ways. There are manysoftware packages that assist in this.

For documentation that involves a lot of text,Star Office Microsoft Word, Wordstar andWordperfect are good packages. A provision fortracking changes in text comes in quite handy.‘Text-only’ files use the least space.

For preparing page layout, the most popularpackage in India seems to be PageMaker. Ventura is another good package, specially for books.Quark Xpress is another favourite. Forillustrations there are CorelDraw and Photoshop.The amount of manipulation possible with themis mind boggling. Which is the best? The oneyou learn first.

Let your DTP operator choose the software.You concentrate on the design, for the moment.[Later we will advice you to concentrate onwriting and leave designing to the designer, andthe rest of the publishing process to the


publisher]. Contact your friendly systems analystfor more details on computers and software sincethere are constant updates and new software isavailable almost daily.

Indexing and hyphenationGood DTP packages come with both these

features. Use the first with care. Avoid thesecond. The reasons are simple.

After you have finalized the layout of the book and taken out the master printouts, you could askthe computer to generate the index for you. Thecomputer can auto generate an index that has allthe words. That is practically useless. Go backand edit the generated index before you include it in the final book. Chop off any word that occursmore than once in ten pages. Let’s say your bookhas 300 pages. Any word that has more than 30index entries should not be in the index. Theindex should be less than five percent of thelength of the book.

Auto hyphenation saves a lot of space, timeand bother before printing. But while reading thebook, it takes away from the flow of the booksince the auto-hyphens are not put at appropriateplaces. It is better to go page by page and putthose that are required manually. Better still, useunjustified text layouts.


16Information management

Use e-mail for getting and sendinginformation. It is simple, economic and efficient.You should be able to get about 500 hours ofcomputer time for just thirty Rupees an hour, orunlimited usage for less than Rupees 1000 amonth. Modems are reasonably pricednow–a–days, and can speed up informationretrieval and transfer.

Most people use computers as a glorifiedtypewriter, only for word processing. This israther unfortunate. The real power of thecomputer is in analysis of data: as a numbercruncher. Seemingly innocuous numbers yieldsignificant information when analyzed.

The findings from such analysis must be put in the main text. Then, to reinforce your position,you could also give the data to the readers in atable, so that the readers can judge forthemselves. Data tables add authority to yourwriting. But the point you want to make with thestatistics must always be explained to the reader.Readers often skip tables unless they areexplained, and sometimes even then.


Ex am ple.

The literacy rate for India, SC/STs and Female literacy

are instructive (all in percentage). The 1991 figures

exclude the 0—6 age group. Previous years exclude the

0—5 age group.

Year Total Gap Female Gap

India ST India ST1961 24.02 08.53 15.49 12.95 03.16 08.79

1971 29.45 11.30 18.15 18.70 06.44 12.26

1981 36.23 16.35 19.88 24.90 08.04 15.86

1991 52.21 29.60 22.61 39.23 18.19 21.04

The minister for education stated in the Rajya Sabha

on 5 August 1987 that the dropout rate for adivasi in

1982-83, for classes one to eight was above eighty

percent in fourteen states. The 1994 report of the

ministry of welfare reports that there are 48 districts in

eight states in which female literacy of adivasis is less

than 2%.

Putting the bland census figures through thecomputer gives the figures in the ‘gap’ columns.They show that the literacy gap between theadivasi and the rest of the population is actuallyincreasing. Without such an analysis, one wouldthink that the picture is uniformly rosy.

Point it out to the reader.


Ex am ple

These are revenue to investment rates for some

states.

State Revenue InvestmentMadhya Pradesh 41.15 22.10

Orissa 16.71 05.47

Keralam 161.37 48.60

Karnataka 81.73 32.29

This in itself does not provide muchinformation to the reader. But once we put itthrough a number cruncher, then it strikes us thatthe profit from investment in forests is about200%! Explain that to the reader.


17The writers’ check list

Think of the reader· Picture a typical reader.

· Be accurate, brief and clear.

· Use gender-free language.

Capture the reader’s attention, then keep it· Compete for the reader’s attention.

· Create a strong title or headline.

· Make people want to pick it up from abookstore shelf.

· Use the KISS MII principle.

· Keep the reader’s attention at the opening.

· Show how your subject affects people and, ifpossible, the reader.

· Appeal to the reader’s interests: health,knowledge, wealth and curiosity.

· Show the benefit to the reader.

· Use illustrations.

° Have a single message.

° Have a clear message.

° Give solid information.

° Create emotion.

° Be technically good.

· Quote directly from people.

· Use examples.


· Never relax in the competition for the reader.

Make reading easier for the reader· Build a smooth, straight highway of

information.

· Put up guideposts. Use sub headings.

· Use lists.

· Keep sentences and paragraphs short. Useabout 20 words a sentence.

Make sure the reader will understand whatyou are saying· Assume that readers may not know what you

are talking about.

· Add details to make sure the readersunderstand.

· Use words the reader can understand.

· Define words the readers may not know.

· Avoid loading your text with abbreviationsand initials. If you cannot avoid them, thenexplain those you use.

· Avoid footnotes. Build references into the text if you must.

· Explain statistics.

Write clearly and simply· Be specific, not general, definite, not vague;

concrete, not abstract.

· Remove unnecessary words.

· Look for short, simple words.


· Try to use the readers’ first language.

· Avoid jargon.

Make your writing sound the way you talk· Make the words work for you.

· Make verbs do the work.

° Focuses on people, not the function or the process.

° Use the first person rather then the third.

· Use active verbs.

· Break up strings of nouns.

° Watch for words ending in ‘-tion’ and‘-ize’. Use the root verb or noun.

° Make relationships clear.

Check and recheck· Headings and subheads.

° Create a strong title or headline. Titles,sub–heads and captions must be catchy.

° Captions should be short. Don’t explainthe obvious.

° All tables, illustrations and graphs should have a caption. If not they should benumbered and explained in the text.

° Since these are the parts of the documentthat are done at the end, they are mostprone to mistakes.

° Double check the headings, the sub–heads and the captions in the final proof.


° Graphs, figures, photographs, tables andtexts should agree.

° Check that all bullets start with a capitaland end with a full–stop.

Be positive and straightforward· Avoid words such as ‘not’ because the

reader’s eye tends to skip over smaller words, and the negatives. Use them as the first wordof the sentence if you must.

Evaluate what you are doing· Survey readers.

· Value feedback.

Rules are made for breaking...A beginner has to follow all the rules. Once the

basics are learnt, then one rebels against all rules.Then the mature writer knows when to follow the rules and when to go beyond them. Rules aremeant to help, not restrict. Here are a few rulesfor the adept from the internet.· Always avoid alliteration.

· Prepositions are not meant to end yoursentences with.

· Avoid cliches like the plague.

· Don’t use abbreviations etc.

· Phrases in parenthesis [however relevant]are unnecessary.

· Never generalize.


· Follow Ralph Waldo Emerson’s rule: ‘Don’tquote. Tell me what you know’.

· Don’t use more words than needed. It isusually superfluous.

· Be more or less specific. But if you can’t then it may be, in certain cases, OK to use a few.It depends actually.

· Don’t use no double negatives.

· Best use understatement. Exaggeration is amillion times worse than understatements.

· The passive voice is to be avoided.

· The mixed metaphor might sparkle, but don’tgo overboard with it.

· Why use rhetorical questions?

· If you don’t know what you want to say thenconfuse the reader. Write on the presumptionthat she has an aperture in her cranium orthat your writing will have the same effect.

· Write long sentences [a long sentence hasmore than 30 words, usually of more thantwo syllables] that go on and on so that thereader will probably, not always but usually,forget what she has read in the beginning bythe time she comes to the end of the sentenceand even if she does not there is a fairchance that she will probably, though notalways, but frequently enough, be unsure, ifnot totally confused about what you want tosay. But don’t say it.


18Public domain writing

The remaining part of this book is devoted togetting your work into the public domain. Thereason is simple. Success for a salesperson iswhen the sale is closed, and the money is paid.For an author too, that is important.

Assuming that your writing is good, then itmust be read for it to have any value and be putinto use. Success only comes when both theseconditions are fulfilled:· Your writing is read, and

· You are paid fairly for it.

Public domain writing includes all yourwriting that will be available to the public. Themost common types are works that you send topublishers, newspapers and magazines. At firstyou are more likely to get your work returned.Do not be dejected if you get your manuscripts or articles back with a form ‘reject’ letter.

The editor does not really regret it. It justmeans that your writing does not fall in with their policy or area of specialization. If he does regretnot publishing all the works that he does notpublish, then he will end up in a mental asylumwith a severe case of depression. It is not a


reflection on the quality of your work. This isalso true of work that is accepted—and that is asobering thought.

Acceptance or rejection of a work is dictatedmore by market considerations. If yours is ananti-establishment or critical work, then itspublication is dictated by where the particularpublisher stands in the political spectrum. Sharp,pointed analysis and critiques stand a betterchance in being published in specialist journalsand specialist publishing houses.

Just as you send in your first work forpublication, open two files. One to keep cuttingsof any of your articles that get published, andanother to file the rejection slips. Initially thesecond will get filled up faster, but later on youmight have to open it just about 10 to 20% of thetime compared to the other file. You canre–submit the rejects to other papers after youbecome famous.

Always enclose a stamped self-addressedenvelop if you want your article back. Someeditors don’t return articles if you do not encloseone with adequate postage—and sometimes noteven then. The Bangalore based Deccan Herald is an exception. If they do not accept your article,you get it back within a week—postage or not.


Acceptance is also indicated by a postcard—wegot one within three days in Chennai though they were on strike. It is best that you keep a copythough. Forget about getting your article back.

You should be aware of the political slant ofthe publication you are approaching, and besensitive to the concerns of their readers. Thatdoes not mean one does not take a stand. If youfeel strongly enough about something, youshould. Courageous writers are important. But beaware that writing can be hazardous to yourhealth—as Salman Rushdie and others havefound out.

Check and recheck your facts. Your writingcan be judged on facts even centuries afterwards.It is a common saying that doctor’s kill theirmistakes, the judges hang their mistakes andwriters—oh! the writers—they publish theirmistakes in banner headlines!

Newspapers and magazines

‘Journalism is literature in a hurry’This is actually one place that is easiest to get

your work published. Newspapers need goodwritten work every day. That is a sort of demandthat is difficult to fulfil. Newspapers are therefore constantly on the lookout for good writers andinteresting topics.


If you are serious about a career in writing fornewspapers, you should keep a file of all yourpublished articles. Except for the letters to theeditor column, editors like to know somethingabout your background the first time you sendthem an article. It should be a brief write-up, ofabout a page. If it is the first time you are writingfor a particular newspaper, then send them copies of other published articles. The copies shouldinclude the name of the publication and the date.

You cannot give the same article to more thanone publication. Your article will generally bepublished or acknowledged in two weeks. If not,you can give it in to another paper or magazine.

A newspaper generally accepts letters to theeditor, ‘oped articles’, ‘middles’, and ‘columns’.Of these, the easiest to contribute to is to theletters to the editor.

Other openingsThe article opposite to the editorial is called

the ‘oped’. It is also called the opinionated page... for obvious reasons. It is easily the mostprestigious column in a newspaper for outsiders.

Within the staff, it is the signed front pageeditorial. Once your perception and your standhas been acknowledged, your writings are put


here. These articles are often commissioned,though unofficially.

Just below this comes the ‘middle’. This isusually a humorous article, to give some relief inan otherwise heavy editorial page. The selectionfor this column is very subjective. If you cantickle the funny bone of the editor, the article isput in. It does not matter if your middle wasprinted the previous day also. Check thenewspaper, since some newspapers do notpublish humorous pieces.

Columns are regular articles, sometimes by agroup of people, sometimes by an individual. For this you should contact the editor, preferably with a collection of your published articles and othercredentials.

How often, on what subjects, the length andhow much will be paid should all be discussedand finalized.

Some papers have occasional columns. Thiswill suit you if you free-lance. You can send inyour article, and if the editor likes it—no matterwhat the subject is—then it will be published.

Letters to the editorThis is the easiest column to get your writing

published, and read. Its main drawback is that


you do not get paid for it. The advantage is thatyou can send the same letter to all thenewspapers. Preference is given to exclusiveletters. Keep your letter short. 200 to 300 wordsis preferable, and 500 words at the outside.Double spaced letters typed or printed on oneside of the paper are preferred.

Address the editor as ‘Sir’, not ‘Dear Sir’. It isgood practice to include your phone number, faxand your e-mail account. Keep the address asprecise as possible. Include your PIN code.

You must sign your letters. If the view youexpress can lead to threat to your life or liberty,request anonymity. If the editor is satisfied thatsuch a threat exists, your letter will be publishedand marked ‘name withheld on request’. Elseyour letter will not be published.

Syndicates and featuresThese are a sort of collection centre and

clearing house for articles. You send your articlesto these companies and they will send them tonewspapers and magazines. You are paidaccording to their policy.

It could be based on how many publicationshave used your article, or they might deduct justservice charges and pass on the payments to you.Normally it is the former.


The advantage is that you need not keepchecking out when and where your articles havebeen published. Syndicates also have theircommitments—they have to give an article onenvironment to a newspaper every week, onepolitical commentary to a fortnightly, and soon—so they are on the look out for writers.

For the writers, they are freed from themarketing aspect so they can concentrate on theircreative work. This is a typical win–win situation. For good writers, the association with a syndicate is an almost surefire way of an assured andregular income.

Articles in magazinesArticles in news magazines follow the same

rules as newspapers. If you are writing newsanalysis, you have to give extra information andmore background material.

More space is available in popular magazines.If you have a flair for writing short stories, this isthe place for you. A good cook, style, fashion,homemaking... all have either special magazinesor columns in magazines. The important thing for an aspiring writer is that most need good articles,so go ahead and send them your work.

Poets are not so well placed in India, as far aspaying propositions go. Scientific and other


technical journals are aplenty, but if you have thechoice, get your papers printed in foreignjournals, preferably British or American. In somespecialities, being published in Germanmagazines is considered best. Now-a-days,Japanese journals are beginning to acquire somesnob value. Even Indians do not respectcontributions to Indian journals. The irony is thatsome of the editors of these journals are Indian.

Writing on social themes has its own set ofopenings that are specialist publications, thoughmost newspapers also give space.

Manushi, Humanscape, Anubhav, Labor File,Lokayan Bulletin, Mainstream, and TheEconomic and Political Weekly are some of thebetter known magazines for social development.In addition to all this, most NGOs and donoragencies have their in–house publications. Goahead and contact them.

Books

‘Every man has a book inside him;fortunately, not every man writes it.’Writing a book is not as difficult a task as it

seems at first. It should be something you writein a style you are comfortable with. Are you aperson who expresses yourself briefly? Then do the same for your book. Are you witty,


sarcastic, cynical? Are you fascinated by factsand details? Are you interested in the humanside of every story? The book should be anextension of your true personality—maybe your hidden one, the one that only you know. Onlythen will it ring true.

Write it as you normally work. How do youfinish an important task? By getting all yourenergies focused on it, planning and preparing the task, getting the material ready and then doing itat one go? Then that is how your book should bedone. If your preferred working style is tobreakup a job into small manageable bits andtackle one part at a time, then you could write anoutline of the book you want to write, break it upinto chapters and sub-topics, and then set to work on it at your own pace.

Going over your writing over a decade or so,you will be amazed at the consistency of thebasic framework, at the same time fascinated bythe slowly maturing and evolving position. Atthis time, you should seriously consider bringingout a collection of writings, but with a heavydose of editing to make it a logical unit.

All the rules of writing apply with even morerigour while writing a book. A book is muchmore permanent, and involves more resources. So


take care. Get a precise person in mind. Thepublication of a book is team work. As a writeryou must be willing to give up total control.Printing a book is easy for anyone with a little bit of money. Publication involves much more thanjust printing.

First prepare a synopsis, with a clear idea ofthe purpose of the book. Have an idea of the type of person likely to read the book. How longshould the book be? Next write a chapter on thebook. What are you going to tell the reader in thebook? What are the key ideas? What is thestructure of the book? Which chapter tells what?Where can the reader find the key ideas andissues?

This will be a guide for the reader later. First itwill be a guide to write the book. If the finalwork turns out to be a little different from the first draft, you can always redo the introductorychapter. But it is an useful guide when startingand helps focus.

Assistance of a professional editor will beprofitable. Trust the professional’s advice. Theyoften have a better sense of what will beacceptable to the reader, and current taste. If theyadvise reworking or scrapping entire chapters oreven the whole work, do it. It will be difficult,


especially if it is the first time—almost likekilling your baby.

However, if you are writing for a specialistaudience, you will probably know more aboutthem than the professional. Professional editorsand publishing executives tend to becomeconservative and less prone to risk taking after awhile. Above all, trust your own instinct.Professionals are sometimes wrong.


19Publishing

‘There is a special place in hell forpublishers’

Should you publish?NGOs often prefer to print and distribute their

own documents. But it may be useful to see if the work might get better impact and reach a wideraudience if it is published by someone else. Theadvantages are· It gets into the bibliographic information.

· It would be put into the book depositories.

· Reach a wider audience.

NGOs with a small publication programmehave a relatively small reach. If your material isof global value [and all writers like to think so!]then it is best to get someone with a wider reach.Moreover, credibility is also enhanced when theauthor and publisher are different.

What not to publishNot all documents need be published. All

documentation carries a cost, and making morecopies of it even more. Each paper has a certainenvironmental cost.


NGOs tend to print many documents that theythink will be interesting to many people. But thenormal NGO reach is only about 200copies—even when these copies are given away.Even professional NGO information providersrarely cross a thousand.

Annual, workshop or seminar reports need notbe published. As more Indian NGOs move on tolocal fund raising, publishing case studies will bebetter. An annual report for the local donor basewill be very different from one for the foreigninstitutional ones. Keep the reader in mindalways. Are we going to add to the ‘junk mail’ oradd to the knowledge base?

The publishing processOnce you decide to get your work published,

the most important thing to remember is that tillnow you have put all your ideas in writing.

From now on, put all the agreements inwriting. It saves much heart burn later on. A good agreement means that you have started a goodworking relationship.

Before submitting your manuscript to aneditor, get a friend with some expertise in thesubject to read it and make comments. Agree tochanges in style, but not to changes in content.Every change must be an improvement.


Then take your manuscript to a publisher. Thepublisher normally has someone to check out ifthe book is worth investing his money in. If so,they will accept it for publication. If not, do notworry. Try another place. Many publishers willguide you to another who might be moreinterested in the particular subject.

It becomes slightly easier if you write studyguides, text books, and children’s stories, because they have a ready market, and demand for goodbooks in this category frequently outstrips supply. Text books are usually commissioned, so yourpublisher actually comes to you, a ratherwelcome change. Unless you are a rather wellknown writer—in which case you wouldn’t bereading this—and sometimes even then, expectquite a few rejection slips.

If you get past this hurdle, then other detailswill have to be worked out. The first is thecopyright. According to the Indian CopyrightProtection Act, the author has the copyright forthe whole of her life plus sixty years.

Next decide on the number of copies to beprinted. The minimum print run is 1000 copies,and NGO publishers usually have a run of 5000.


RoyaltySir, no man but a blockhead ever wrote but for

money.

— Samuel Johnson

Normally you are paid a sum as advanceagainst future royalties. This depends on the typeof work, and the number of copies that you andthe publisher think will be sold. This will be paidimmediately. The royalty ranges from 5 to 30%of the cover price, and depends on the type ofpublication, the popularity of the subject, andnumber of books sold. Royalty payments aresettled every six months.

Despite the media hype surrounding themulti–million deals of certain Indian writers, as anew writer, you should not expect more than theminimum—while of course trying to get the bestpossible deal. If you are publishing through anNGO or a ‘cause’ related organization, then youmay be expected to agree to no royalty at all.

In such cases, the each author is given 25complimentary copies for non–commercial use. If you do get a royalty, you then get 5 copies of thebook. Most publishers also give a 50% discounton all the titles in their catalogue when the author buys them for personal use, as long as theauthor’s book is in print.


In every case, even if you agree to no royalty,have all the agreements explicitly and in writing.Under all circumstances, you should assert yourright to be identified as the author of the work. Itis good practice and good ethics. One should take the responsibility and the credit when due.

If you do go to a professional publisher, thenyou should insist that you retain the rights. Thefair royalty is about 10% of the cover price. Letus assume a cover price of Rupees 100.00. Apublisher, when agreeing to take your book on,usually has in mind a sales of at least 1000 copies in the first year, and usually feels that sales of2000 will be possible. If not they rarely take onyour book. So the money you get at the time ofsigning the deal should be 10%. The fair deal inthis case is Rupees 10,000.00, and the rest onsale.

If there is a second edition, with a print run of2000 copies, you should again get Rupees20,000.00. Remember, these are the absoluteminimums and only for the Indian rights. If youdo not get even this much, then you couldperhaps pause to consider whether you have got a fair deal. If you are promised less, you canconfidently walk off, assured that you can get


more readership—and money—if you publishand distribute the work yourself.

Copy editingOnce the terms are agreed upon, the publisher

will get one of the firm’s editors to work on it. Ifyou have not already got someone to do it before, it would be a good time to tighten up thelanguage, as per the editor’s suggestions.

Suggestions for expanding some ideas that arenot too clear, editing out pet phrases—the one’sthat you use very often—could be valuable. Only minor corrections and editing to the matter orcontent are usually suggested. How you react tothem depends on how vital you feel they are tothe essence of the book.

ProofingThis is to catch the spelling and other errors.

Try not to do it yourself. It is difficult for thesame person to catch all the mistakes. Give it totwo different people, one after the other, and youare assured of a virtually error-proof, quality,manuscript.

Check the headings, sub–heads, and thecaptions. Check to see if all bullet points startwith a capital and end with a full–stop. The proof reader will mark the errors and return the


manuscript. These corrections require littleintellectual effort, but a lot of time. Give it to adata entry operator if you can.

There will never be a 100% error–free book.So don’t fret too much about it. If we count thenumber of errors in a book and the number ofwords, then it is well below 0.1%. Even scientific experiments have a larger acceptable margin oferror. In this book we have left some errors foryou to find out.

DesignThere are many good books. The ones that get

read are the ones that have good design for thetext and the cover. A good cover gets the booknoticed and taken off the shelf. It is the first stepto the reader. Good content gets repeat sales. Geta good designer to help. Work closely with her,but let her do her job.

Most books are kept on a shelf and read during journeys or in bed. Documents are usually filedand read at a table. Design them accordingly.There is a tendency to make books very big. Dothat if it is a reference book. Otherwise a smaller,easy–to–hold–in–bed size is better.

All books should have the title on its spine.That helps it be located in a library. If the book is


very thin, then print the title vertically on theback cover as close to the centre pin as possible.

The back cover of the book should haveinformation on why the book should be bought,and how it will help the buyer.

PrintingPrinting is done in two different stages:

pre-press and press. You probably have nocontrol over how the press works, unless youown it. Choose a letter press if your budget issmall, though now-a-days computerized layoutand offset printing are not as expensive as theyonce were. They afford much greater flexibilityand control.

The printing and binding times vary since itdepends on how fast the ink and glue dries up,but from the time you give the laser printout tothe press to the time you get your copies shouldnot take more than a week, ten days at theoutside. Further delay will usually be due to other commitments by your printer. Ask the press forfirm date commitments.

Ask your printer which paper size the presssupports. Do your layout accordingly. This bookis printed on Times 11 point, and each page isabout A6 size, because it is a little book. A6 isroughly quarter the size of an A4 sheet. Most


‘pocket size’ editions are just a wee bit smallerthan A5. In the trade they are called ‘crown size’. Due to the available paper size, crown results inthe maximum paper wastage.

Ahem! Still wondering what the A4 size is?Go to a stationary shop and find out. We will notinsult your intelligence and spoon feed you.

PricingAuthors who do the publishing themselves

normally under–price their work. The rule ofthumb for pricing, assuming a print run of 1000copies, is divide the print cost by 1000. We getthe print cost per copy. Multiply by 7 to get thecover price for paper back, and by 15 for hardcover copies. Normally author–publishers justdouble the print cost.

To get a rough estimate of the cost ofproduction—data entry, page layout, andprinting—calculate it at Rupees 200 per A5 pageand Rupees 335 per crown page. This includestwo proofs, a four colour cover and lamination, if the number of pages is above 200. There could be minor variations, but not by much. This does notinclude the pre–design proofs. Normally a bookneeds about five to ten extra proofs. Build thatinto your costing.


In India, specialist publications are heavilysubsidized and so shamefully under–prized.Therefore the usual is three to four times theprinting cost. This leads to most peopleunder–valuing Indian publications—grumblingabout paying Rupees 100.00 for an Indian bookwhile thinking nothing of paying Rupees 1000.00 for a foreign book as a ‘special price’.

In dual pricing, the conversion rate usuallyapplied is Rupees 10 to a US Dollar. This enables people from richer countries, where book pricesand incomes are generally higher, to pay a higherprice. For third world nations, the price is usuallyequivalent to the current Rupee rate.

There are really no price barriers or resistance.The general rule is that there are individual saleswhen the book is priced at less than Rupees 200.A serious reader would buy it even when it ispriced between Rupees 200 and 300. Above thatit is normally only institutional sales.

For a ‘must have’ book there is no price limit.But the price should be low enough to make theoption of xeroxing unattractive. A Rupee a page,or slightly more is the best bet for a popularbook.


SubsidiesAh! Who wouldn’t like to get some? The

Government of India does have some provisionsfor this. Try it at your risk. You could write to

The Director,CIEFL Regional Centre,Motimahal Campus,2 Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow,Uttar Pradesh, India—226002.p: 91–522–2216073.f: 91–522–2285771.

Each state government provides support forbooks written in their official language. Inaddition to this, central ministries give support for books on their special areas of concern. Theenvironment ministry gives grants for bookswritten on the environment, with more than 100pages, in Hindi. Similarly for others.

Legal provisionsLegally, a ‘book’ has 50 pages or more. If you

do your own publishing remember that, by law,you are required to send complementary copies to four public libraries.i Connemara Public Library, Chennai—600008.

ii The National Library, Calcutta—700027.

iii The Central Library, Mumbai—400001.

iv Delhi Public Library, New Delhi—110006.


Keep their acknowledgment cards. Theysometimes lose books and ask for another citinglegal provisions. Send them a copy of theacknowledgment. Make them buy the next one.

Each state has its own central public library. Itis good practice to send books to them, since only then can your book be bought by the government purchase department for all the libraries in thestate—and that runs to hundreds of copies! So do send them a complementary copy. It not only gets you a larger audience but also better sales.

Internationally, copyright is for the life of theauthor plus fifty years. In India, copyright is forthe life of the author plus sixty years. India is anexception for a curious reason.

In 1992, fifty years after the death ofRabindranath Tagore, his works would havecome into the public domain. However, thetrustees of his estate petitioned the governmentfor an extension of copyright, since their majorsource of income was from the publication andsale of his works. So the government, whichcould not make an exception, extended copyrightprotection for another ten years for all literaryworks.

Copyright—literally the right to makecopies—legally rests with the author. The


copyright is normally bought from the author bythe publisher, sometimes for a limited period,usually permanently.

Rights to translations vest with the translator,but permission for translation must be got fromthe original author. Then we get into a legalminefield. What about a stage adaptation? And ifthe stage adaptation is turned into a musical? andthen translated... and filmed? What happens when the characters from the movie are used foranother sequel...

Even if the copyright of a work is bought, itcannot be mutilated or adapted without theauthor’s consent. Distortion is prohibited, butonly till the copyright exists. Then it reverts topublic domain, and no restrictions apply. Forviolation of copyright, the penalty is six to thirtysix months in jail, and Rupees 50,000 to 200,000in fines.

There is an increasing movement towardscopylefting. Anyone is free and encouraged toreproduce all copylefted works provided· The reproduced work is not copyrighted.

· It is for non–profit use.

· The original copyleft notice is also included.


It is analogous to freeware in software andinformation technology. It is a part of theanarchic trend that rebels against exclusion.

This book is copylefted.

CataloguingMost publishers are given a cluster of

International Standard Book Numbers [ISBN] not from the logical Ministry of Information andBroadcasting known within the trade, as ‘theministry of ifs and buts’ for their ratherpre-historic attitude. The Department ofEducation, Ministry of Human ResourceDevelopment, allots these numbers in India.These are unique identifying numbers for thebook to reference its title and country ofpublication.

For details of free registration, write on yourorganization’s letter–head to

The librarian—ISBN DivisionRaja Rammohun Roy National UnitB2/W3 Curzon Road Barracks,Kasturba Gandhi Marg,New Delhi 110001t:+91—11—3382549

In your letter state:· The name and full address of the publishing

agency[your organization].

· Date of establishment.


· Total output of titles to date, and whether you want ISBNs for the backlog.

· Expected output of titles in the current year.

· Expected output of titles in the next fifteen totwenty years.

Library cataloguing follows the ‘DeweyDecimal System’. If you tell any librarian thetopic on which your book is based, they will tellyou the appropriate number.


20Publicity and reviews

Together with the printing of your book, youwill need to print a one page ‘flier’ that gives abrief overview of the book. Send the fliers to allthose whom you think will be interested. If yourbook is for a particular profession, then send theflier to their guild or association. NGOs havetheir own networks, both nationally andregionally. In addition, there are issue specificnetworks.

Most interest groups—including publishers—are organized today, and have their newsletters.Meet their office bearers. Ask them to mentionyour work, the price and the contact address inthe next issue.

If you want reviews for your book, send acopy of it to the newspapers, clearly marking itfor review. The Hindu however asks for twocopies. Send it to them anyway. They also givethe publisher’s address. So more orders come insaving distribution costs.

It is good practice to send a small write up.Most newspapers and magazines use these writeups, at least as a starting point, for their reviews.If you can include a small sketch of the person


who does the write up—in what way is theperson qualified to do the write up—and meet the book review editor personally, there are greaterchances of a review. Try to get an address wherethe book can be obtained from, together with theprice mentioned at the end of the review.

Don’t be too bothered by reviews, or too elated by them. The purpose of a review is publicity, not evaluation. Sometimes reviews are done bywannabe authors, who try to show off theirerudition [or should we write knowledge instead,because it is a simpler word?!] rather than reviewthe book. No one of any consequence buys abook just because it has got a good review. Those who do, buy them for the snob value, not forreading.

In the review of one of our books, a formerjudge of the supreme court of India was soimpressed that twice within his review of about250 words, he said ‘one should read the book’.Another reviewer praised our book for theanalysis on NGOs—our book was on the Adivasi [indigenous people] struggle in south India—andthen said it was full of ‘pretentious’ phrases.

On looking back, we find that both reviewswere correct. For the judge, the ‘pretentious’phrases were simple enough to understand, for


the junior reporter it was over his head. Wewould have to be clear that the reviews we wantshould be done by the same people who are thetarget audience—and students and the generalreader were our target audience then. These aremistakes we would not have known otherwise.

DistributionThe advantage of going through an established

publisher or a commercial distributor is that theyhave national and international distributionnetworks. Some, such as Sage, specialize indevelopment and social science literature.

The Other India Book Store is the most wellknown NGO distributor. They are a part of theThird World Network. There are manybookstores that stock development publications.Only a few have any real contact with the NGOworld and use its journals and networks topromote their book.

One thing that you as an author could do issuggest channels for publicizing the book. If youare a specialist in some field and your book is onthat specialty, it is likely that you are alreadyrecognized as an expert. In that case you will becalled to give speeches, present papers atseminars or help develop policy. Take your books along, and tell the audience that they can


purchase them after your talk. You should be able to sell at least ten books in an audience of 30.Once you get over your shyness, 25 books willbe common if the book is interesting and theaudience excited.

In one of the meetings we went to, theresource person Michael Norton gave aninteresting example of how to sell. Taking offfrom the workshop on newsletter publication thathe had just conducted, he asked if anyone wasinterested in getting a ‘Do It Yourself Guide toNewsletter Publication’. He would import it andmake it available for Rupees 350. Almosteveryone raised their hands. He then explainedthe strategy:· Create interest.

· Be someone people can trust.

· Then price is not the barrier.

If you are an author–on a specific subject, youcould do the same where you are a speaker.

Other easy points of distribution are libraries,though they are currently facing a budget crunch.For this you will need to contact the bookselection committee. They, as all governmentdepartments, demand a 10% discount off thecover price. You can ask them to cover packingand postage—which comes to roughly the same


amount. Recently the trend is to ask up to 50%off as discount, in which case sell them only hard bound copies with the price hiked upappropriately.

Getting money from government departments—famed for their lethargy—is quite easy. Givethem a discount of about Rupees 50.00 if theypay within two weeks. They will. It has neverfailed for us. This is because their auditors willtake them to task for losing the government’smoney. And, like everyone else, they fear theauditor. Isn’t it nice to know?

Another method, though more expensive, is tosend books by VPP. This can be done only forconfirmed orders. Parcels have to be taken to thepost office. Money is brought back by thepostman.

Professional distribution networks are a goodtry, but they normally specialize. Find out onethat normally distributes books on the subjectsthat interest you. Ask your bookstore for otherbookstores which stock books on the subject thatyou have written on. Meet them, they normallyare quite helpful. Retailers take three to fivebooks, initially, and then more depending onsales. Distributors take a minimum of ten, butusually fifty.


If you go to a distributor, the normal tradediscount is 40% off the cover price. For retailers,it is one third. Sometimes they will agree to takeyour book on a ‘sale–or–return’ basis. This means that they will sell the books and settle every sixmonths. If sales are good, they will get back toyou earlier. In this case the discount is 25%.

If you sell directly, you may give a discount of 10% as a ‘special offer’. Direct sale discountshould not at anytime be more than 15%, sincethat will lead to problems for, and with, yourretailers. The distributors and retailers will settleaccounts half yearly.

Another gold mine of information—but oneseldom tapped—are the secondhand bookdealers. There is an unusually high percentage ofbook lovers among them, and they are quiteknowledgeable. They are very helpful to bothbook lovers and authors—specially hard-up,upcoming ones!


21Unsold publications

Unsold publications take up space, becomeless relevant, and deteriorate. Even so, never, ever ‘remainder’—sell at junk value—the books. They can be put to better use.

The marketing cycle should be:· Year 1: Market and hope to sell the rest in

three years.

· Year 2: Continue, and focus on those that are doing well.

· Year 3: Identify the problem books. Get themout. Somehow. Anyhow.

To decide to classify the book as ‘unsold’check how many copies you have. Divide thatfigure by the number that were sold the last year.This will give the number of years that the bookwill have to be stored before it is sold out. If it isgreater than three or four, a discussion with thesenior team may be in order.

Decide whether· The book was a mistake.

· Out of date.

· One that you are not proud of.

In all these cases send the unsold copies forrecycling. Don’t waste storage space on them. If


not, then these books could be used forpromotional activity.· Be sold at a discount as a promotional offer

at a special sale.

· Inducement for new subscribers [for anewsletter or a book club].

· Bundled with another book at a special priceto get them both out!

· Give them to networks to developpartnerships.

· Use them to promote the organization.

After this what?If you are an author who has done all this,

savour the triumph by all means. Remember thata mild depression is normal after publication of abook. Immediately get on to your next work. You are only as famous as your last book in the lastyear.

If you are a publisher, get on with it. Identifynew talent. The more books you publish, thebetter your chances of picking a winner.


22Responsibility

Education has three ‘R’s. The ‘R’ in writingstands for the great social responsibility writersand the intelligentsia have—the duty to highlightthe best in human nature, and to be on the side ofthe oppressed. Therefore, the human being andhuman well-being should be at the centre of thedocumentation effort.

Though on the side of the oppressed, evenwhile developing an ideology for liberation, thewriters, development workers and all those whoform the intelligentsia should at no time give in to hate, communalism, incitement to racial or otherviolence or other negative human traits, butshould always emphasize love, harmony andtolerance. The outlook should be positive,creating a win–win, inclusive, enabling ideology.

If we do not use our gift for that, it is abetrayal of trust. Life is too short even to loveadequately. There is no need to waste time onhate. We do not need to create hell in this worldto go to heaven in the next.

The patterns of life can be written from manyangles all seemingly true. That people are goodor bad till circumstances force them otherwise,


that the chief motivation of life is the life instinct, the death wish, the sex instinct, the lust forpower, personal ambition, will...

But while creating patterns, one has to beconscious of the responsibility of thedevelopment worker and the intelligentsia. Thepatterns created will be used by people to justifymany different actions.

The history of India can be written from thepoint of ‘Hindus’ fighting against ‘Christians’ or‘Moslems;’ or of ‘Dravidians’ versus ‘Aryans;’ or ‘Dalits’ versus ‘Brahmins’ ... There is such a large corpus of material available that virtually any ofthese, and many more besides, can beconvincingly argued.

Modern politics is divisive, and thecompetition seems to be to what basest instinctthe politician can appeal to. The task before us isto heal, while at the same time change the unjuststatus quo. Human history is the evolving searchfor a better human life, love and justice. It is easyto destroy. The pen should be used for moreconstructive purposes. As Boris Yelstin said: it iseasy to build a throne of bayonets, but you can’tsit on it for long.

In this example, we show how such a positivepattern can be created.


Gandhism—Bombed out of ex is tence?

Gandhism has been pronounced dead many times

before. An authority on ‘Gandhism’ has even concluded

in an otherwise well researched book that Gandhism

ceased to matter in Indian politics since 1942. In global

relationships, the invention of the weapons that could

kill from a distance was said to make Gandhism

outmoded as an ideology and an expression of the

highest forms of philosophy. Atom bombs became the

symbol. That dates from 1945.

Non cooperation could no longer bring moral pressure

to bear on the oppressor. Impersonal means, such as a

soldier sitting in an air conditioned room far away from

the scene, reading a comic pressing a button could

destroy the world. The nuclear explosions of May 1998,

are said to have well and truly buried Gandhism once

and for all—both in global polity, and in the place of his

birth. The truth, as always, is not so simple.

Gandhism, came into global consciousness since it

was used against the contemporary global super-power.

However, its subaltern stream can be traced back

authoritatively for millennia, and can be safely asserted

to be still evolving. A hundred and thirty years since his

birth, it might be appropriate to trace Gandhism by its

various names and the other ‘mahatmas’ who gave,

and continue to give, shape to this evolving ideology.

To trace Gandhism before the birth of Gandhi could

seem to be impossible. But here let us take refuge in

Robert Barnabas Brough’s poem, ‘An early Christian’.

Christians were on earth ere Christ was bornThousands of years ago men dared to die


Loving their enemies—and wondering why.

Gandhism, in this note, similarly refers to a developing

stream of human ethical consciousness—for a good

Gandhian is a good Hindu is a good Christian is a good

Moslem.... is good.

Human progress must be traced not by our potential

to kill, but rather by our potential to love, and to justice.

Philosophers and great law makers—while making

concessions for contemporary circumstances—have

tried to guide the human race in that direction. It is a

different matter that followers have had very many

difficulties in following their philosopher-teachers.

The famous dictum ‘an eye for an eye..’. is, arguably,

the first progressive legislation in this regard. More than

an admonition to revenge, it was a limitation. Rightly

interpreted, it restrains anyone from excessive

retribution. It sought to restrain the powerful from going

on rampage for real or imagined hurt.

Even by the first century B. C. there was considerable

progress. The Jewish philosopher Hillel propounded ‘do

not do unto others what you do not want them to do

unto you’. The undatable, but probably earlier,

Santiparva of Mahabharata says

Do not do unto others what, if done to you,would hurt;

This is morality in a nutshell; for the rest, dowhat you like.

Closely related to this, almost word for word, is Jesus’

Do unto others what you would like them to do unto you.

and developing it to


Love thy neighbour as thyself, ...that is the lawand the prophets.

Jesus went on to develop this even further when he

asked his followers to ‘love your enemies’. That is a

quantum leap in philosophical terms. About seven

centuries later, the Koran says [Chapter 41, Verse 34]

Repel [evil] with that is better; Then, will be,between whom and you, was hatred, become, asit were, your intimate friend.

The success of Gandhi is that he put this into practice,

clearly separating the ‘sin and the sinner’. Gandhi is a

mahatma, great soul, because he insisted that the

British should leave as friends, and planned all his

campaigns so—despite all that the British did.

The core contribution of the philosophical position of

Gandhism is not non-cooperation with an unjust

government—which was a contribution of Thoreau, as

acknowledged by Gandhi himself—but that ‘the British

should leave as friends’.

This practice of confronting the sin, while loving the

sinner and enabling the adversary to also have positive

feelings is the singular contribution of Gandhi. This

means that not only does one have to love one’s

enemy, but so act that the ‘enemy’ actually loves us!

This seems to be a difficult philosophical position to

develop on, but develop it has. Gandhi’s death has not

stopped the development of human ethics nor its

practice. There are of course many adherents of the

message who live it out in their daily lives.

It influenced Nelson Mandela. Martin Luther King

even wore the Gandhi cap. Israel is arguably one of the


most militaristic states. Even it has deported those who

protested by non-violent means, by going on a hunger

strike, proving once again that moral power is stronger

than that of guns.

Teachers routinely exhort us to love each other in spite

of our very many faults. One of the definitions of a

friend is ‘one who will stand by you when you are

wrong—because when you are right others will. The

peace movement during the cold war affirmed the

message by declaring that ‘all the arms in the world do

not give the security of one embrace’.

But progress, in ideological terms, can be seen right

here in India. In a little known village Kanjipadam in

Keralam there is a bold experiment that, among other

things, tries to ‘love one another because of their

faults!’ Not in spite of but because. The moving soul

behind this is a [now] retired school teacher

Pankajaksha Kurup.

The ‘experiment’ involves about 3000 families in a

panchayat ‘ward’. It includes a non-monetary economy,

and community property in its embryonic form. Daily

meetings of groups of 10 families and weekly and

monthly meetings of progressively larger groups is the

norm. Though the press in Keralam has hailed it as a

place where ‘love has bloomed’ the philosopher himself

declares that they are all still as ‘bad’ and as ‘full of

faults’ as before. Interestingly, it is true. The community

does have its fair share of ‘undesirables’.

In one of their meetings, there was a complaint that

one among them stole something. The response is

interesting. Kurup pointed out that it was a good thing


to happen, because they finally noticed the person. The

community, he explained, did not notice him when he

was lying drunk in the cow shed. Nor did they even

know that he was drunk because he could not raise

money for his sisters’ weddings. So his stealing was

good in that it gave an opportunity for them to envelop

him with their love. Quite a living ideology that!

As long as the human race seeks to rise above itself,

the progression of ethical philosophical frontiers will

continue. It is when ordinary people, despite all the

counter-pressures, collectively do extra-ordinary things

that the race as a whole progresses. It is those who live

it in their daily life who are the real custodians of the

cutting edge of ethical standards of the race.

The simple truth is that the elite came to know of

‘Gandhian ethics’ only for a time, and adopted it as a

fashion and a fetish. After that it reverted back into the

lives of its true custodians. It is in them that the strong,

but perhaps less visible, stream of ‘Gandhism’ flows on.

And it always will.

It is easy to destroy the oppressing ideology by hate. But then it is only replacing one anti–people ideology and system with another. To create abetter world, it must be done only through love.To reiterate: life is too short even to loveadequately. There is no need to waste time foranything else.


23End note

Did you enjoy flipping through to find thispage? The reader normally does not like to keepflipping to the back of the book looking for thefootnotes, explanatory or otherwise. Ourendeavor should be to make the task ofdiscovering new ideas as easy as possible for thereader.

Bye!


Other books we wrote

In sti tu tion De vel op mentA human rights approach to

development p205, Rs 175, 2004

Karnataka re source book p250, Rs 100, 2002

Life goes on...[Building sustainable

communities and institutions] p320, Rs 240, 1999

NGO ex pe ri enceGrama Vidiyal, A bank to bank on p250, unpriced, 2004

The heart of a city p250, unpriced, 2002

Sustaining Dalit empowerment p060, Rs 120, 2001

An earth to inherit p108, Rs 120, 1999

Paths are made by walking p107, Rs 100, 1998

The NESA process p060, Rs 100, 1998

Partners in progress p206, Rs 120, 1997

Experiences of advocacy in

environment and development p208, Rs 120, 1997

TribalsA search for justice p300, Rs 500, 1997

Why does Nagarhole burn p060, Rs 060, 1995

Indigenous identity p090, Rs 030, 1993

Tribals in our global vil lage p150, Rs 095, 1992

OthersPeoples Voices: 25 Experiences

of globalisation in Asia p100, unpriced, 2003

Liberating mindspace: In which

language do you think? p065, unpriced, 2001

~

Goodbookz 125/1, cross 15, main 5, rt nagar block 2, bangalore,

India 560032

p: 91(0) 94-4848-4797

e: [email protected]

~

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