Reprography in India - a Status Report

REPROGRAPHY IN INDIA - A STATUS REPORT

K S NAGARAJAN

Regional (entre. ln s doc, Bangalore·12

Surveys the reprographic facilities available in the linguistic re -organisation of the States of India. The role of lnsdoc and a few other organisa- India) located at Poona. For some decades tions in providing such facilitie s for the benefit of now this department has been concerned with science is highlighted. It is pointed out that in some the photographic reproduction of title deeds cases lack o£proper advice on the choice of equipment and other legal documents vouching for owner- to suit the exact needs has resulted in inadequate use ship and transfer of landed property, buildings of even limited facilities. Recent progress in the indigenous production of equipment and materials is and other real estates within the State of also taken stock of. Some suggestions are made re- Maharashtra. This service is somewhat garding training of technicians in reprography and unique, as no other state government in India standardization of reprographic matters. appears to have set up a regular photographic reproduction service as an adjunct to the department dealing with the registration of As in several fields of industrial pro- documents. An old Photostat machine is still gress and technical advancement, in the field going strong at Poona rendering useful service of reprography also India is waking up. Until to sellers and buyers of property and litigants. about 10 years back there was not even a keen awareness of the potentialities of and the need In some of the states (for example the for reprographic techniques and applications, State of Bihar, at its capital in Patna), the in the vast fabric of academic, industrial and Accountant General's Office has got a photo- econonUc life in the country. Of course, there graphic facility to provide copie s of official have been significant exceptions, where some documents and to assist in the records manage- institutions, mostly under governmental aus- ment in the area of auditing and fiscal control pices, have been making extensive use of of governmental expenditure. reprography. Example s are the Insdoc (Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre) under Perhaps the oldest organized reprogra- the Council of Scientific 8. Industrial Research phic set up under the auspices of the Govern- and the National Archives of India, under the ment of India, is in the National Archives of Ministry of Education. What follows is a India, under the Union Ministry of Education. rather sketchy history of the development of No other organization, governmental or pri- reprography in India. vate, has reached the volume of microfilming work that is being handled in the National Recent History of Reprography in India Archives. The National Archives of India has a continuous programme of micro-recording. Governmental involvement with repro- This unit with a battery of Recordak cameras graphy has been in connection with the follow- and ancillary equipment and a team of trained ing activities/departments: Archives, scientific technicians can look forward to decade s of documentation, re gistration of title deeds, useful service; the National Archive s have yet financial audit, tourist traffic, census opera- to put on microfilm a vast portion of the state tions, public sector industries, etc. records of this century, particularly a great bulk of documents that have been created Government or ganisations after independence.

One of our earliest government depart- The Ministry of Comme rce and Industry ments to use reprography was the ~ had, until the early 50's, what was called the Registry of the Government of Bombay (now 'Aciininistrative Intelli~ce Room'. This unit the State Government of Maharashtra, after had both Photostat and microfilming equipment

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to provide reprographic facilities rnairrlv to the 5 Copycat, large format vacuum contact parent Ministry and also to other government printer, made in UK. departments at New Delhi. This unit has since been disbanded with the equipment getting 6 Contoura, portable contact printer relocated, partly with the Photo Litho wing of with an air cushion, accessory for the Government of India Press and partly with ensuring good contact with small the National Archives. bound volumes, made in USA.

7 Develop (Dr Eisbein),developing unit The Department of Tourism installed for diffusion transfer materials, around 1959, diffusion-transfer type of pro- made in Germany. cessors with contact reflex copiers at major ports of entry for copying of tourist cards 8 Reading devices for micro-records: containing data on incoming foreign tourists a) Thomson-Houston brand with to India. built-in opaque screen, made in France. Role of Insdoc, New Delhi b) Microvist - portable reader (with collapsible arms for the projection- It was not until 1952 that an organised mirror), made in Germany. and well equipped reprographic service, c) Kangaroo reader, made in France. accessible to a wide range of clientele, carne d) Microcard reader - for reading, to be established as part of the activities of by episcopic projection, opaque the Indian National Scientific Documentation micro-cards, made in USA. Centre (Insdoc), Insdoc was set up as an unit 9 Enlarger with point-source lamp by under the Council of Scientific & Industrial SFMD, made in F:rance. Research, in New Delhi, with generous assistance from UNESCO, under an agreement 10 Azoflex K-IO diazi!l"printer, made by between that international body and the Govern- Ilford Limited, UK. ment of India. The assistance took the form 11 Hunter-Penrose process camera, of gift of a range of reprographic equipment; made in UK, along with infra-red the services of experts in scientific documen- film -drying cabinets. tation, reprography and translation; and fellowships to some of the Indian staff members of 12-14 ~otaprh1:t offset printing machine the Insdoc. This writer was the recipient of made in UK, along with ancillary one of the UNESCO fellowships, and he had the equipment for plate -making and plate- opportunity to visit the USA and Europe during exposing. 1954-55 to study the reprographic techniques then prevalent in the advanced countries. With The above basic equipment has been a team of technicians, many of whom had som~ supplemented, from time to time, with other previous experience of technical photographic gadgets, which include: a Rolleiflex, a Leica work and who were given the proper orienta- M-3 with a battery of lenses, a second tion and training on reprographic techniques, Reprovit unit (Model lIb), a Recordak Micro- the services of Insdoc gained momentum film camera model AH-5, Recordak projection during the 1950's. printer Model B with point-source illumination, an Ilford strip film printer (for making dia- The equipment obtained from UNESCO positives of individual diagrams and technical comprised: illustrations) and four more offset printing machines (one Zetaprinton and three Romayors, Lectra -II microfilming camera, all made in Czechoslovakia). manufactured by Tokyo Micro-Photo Works, Japan. With this array of equipment collected, 2 Leitz Reprovit -I, made in Germany. under one roof, it was possible to render reprographic services (mainly of scientific 3 Lumoprint - rewind type motorized documents) to the scientific, technical,' engi- film developing unit, made in neering and medical communities, for the Germany. first time in India. During the past 15 years the services have grown tremendously. Thougb 4 Microtronics - positive film printer, in the early stages a majority of the clientele made in USA.

196 Ann Lib Sci Doc REPROGRAPHYININD~

were from academic and research institutions, £) special high quality reproductions by in recent tirnes a number of industries and contact printing of high contrast business houses have started making regular negatives on lith-type film obtained use of the reprographic services of Insdoc , on a process camera of complicated The bulk of the services comprises furnishing diagrams, having a wealth of detail, of readable photocopies on paper (hard copies) for inclusion in bio-medical disser- closely followed by microfilms in strip form. tations. Papers from scientific and technical articles published in a plethora of periodicals comprise The above types of reprographic work the bulk of the requests; patents and standards give a broad cross -section of the variety of (national, fo;eign and international) and theses work demanded of and met by Insdoc's ser- submitted for award of higher degrees of vices. major universities in and outside India are also being serviced. Insdoc Centre, Bangalore Besides furnishing of cppre s of specific scientific documents demanded by clients, In 1964 a regional offshoot of Insdoc was Insdoc also undertakes to produce various set up in collaboration with, and in the campus kinds of reprographic versions of documents of the Indian Institute of Science, a 60-year- brought in by clients. A few of these may be old premier institution of advanced scientific reprints or the author's copies of original learning and research in India. The decision papers but a majority of requests are for the to establish this Centre was part of a plan to reproduction of meta-documents, presenting set up three or four such units in different a wide variety of problems which are challeng- re gions of the country to supplement the ser- ing to the skill, experience and ingenuity of vices being provided from the main centre at the reprographic personnel. New Delhi. The choice of locations was to be guided by the availability of rich collections of a) Either magnification or minification scientific literature, mainly periodicals, of illustrations to produce dimensional spanning a range of disciplines, languages and variants, are required, mainly for countries of origin as well as the depth or sending along with paper s for publica- extent of collections going back to several tion or inclusion in theses; years. UNESCO once again provided technical aid for furnishing the Bangalore Centre of .b) production of intermediate masters Insdoc with reprographic equipment. With the for further reproduction by diazo or experience gained during more than a decade other means; of active and useful service at New Delhi it , was possible to make a choice of reprographic v'c) unitized microfilms of line - and half- equipment based on recent developments and tone illustrations and positive trans- improvements in the field. pa r encie s therefrom, meant for projection as visual aids during lectures, The equipment at Bangalore includes: seminars and conferences; , a) Durst M-35 enlargers (two pieces, d) multiple reproductions either by made in Italy). diazo or offset-printing of technical b) Leitz Reprovit, model-lIa (made in brochures, instruction manuals or scientific or other data for distribu- Germany). '" c) Microbox MB2EBW microfilm tion and dissemination; cameras (two pieces, made in e) positive version on 35 mrn film of Germany), one piece to be shifted to continuous lenghts of micro-film Insdoc, New Delhi, for use in a negatives, for use as substitutes for mobile microfilming unit. out -of -print back volumes of scientific d) Fotoclark Printaphot pneumatic journals (e. g. the Journal of the Indian contact copying apparatus (made in Botanical Society was reproduced by Germany). \ Insdoc to make available, to new e) Copyclark book copier with diffuai on subscribers, through the Society, transfer developing unit (made in positive microfilm editions of back Germany). volumes of the journal of that society);

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f) Recordak microfil~ reader MPE context of creative scientific writing and publi- (two pieces, made in USA). cation. Creation of original documents, with g) Johnson's Super gl.oas Drye{. made in due regard to quality, uniformity and clarity UK. of illustrations with a view to their eventual h) Autofax electr~fax-type book copier reproduction (either magnified or minified, in (using zinc oxide coated paper, made one or two copie s or in tens or even hundreds) by Toshiba, in Japan). seems to be done now with greater care and I) Positive film printer for printing of diligence than before. The advice of Insdoc is 16/35 mm roUs of microfilms, made often sought before illustrations are prepared in Japan. for conferences, for theses and publications. j) Lumoprint Zindler rewind type developing unit (two pieces, made in Since 1958 the Indian Association of Germany). Special Libraries and Information Centres k) Pako Rotary print washer (made in (IASLIC) has been rendering useful service USA) from Calcutta by furnishing microfilms and 1) Copyspeed vertical pr oce s's camera photocopie s , especially of material accessible with Xerox attachment. to them in the various scientific libraries in m) Hunter -Penrose -Littlejohn Offset the Calcutta area. They make use of the pre- Plate -Coating Whirler and 3-way mises and part of the facilities available in the printing down frame. library of the Geological Survey of India. The growth of IASLIC's reprographic services is Routine services remarkable. From about 20,000 pages on microfilms and 1,300 pages as photocopies With the above complement of equipment supplied in 1958, the figures for 1966 came to and 3 Romayor pffset printers acquired with around 70,000 pages on"microfilm and 3,000 internal resources, reprographic services pages as photocopy. commenced from the third quarter of 1964. It has gained considerable momentum during the Indian Statistical Institute past three y.ears. Among the clientele of the Bangalore Centre of Insdoc are several indus- This Institute, which is also at Calcutta, trial and academic organizations, not neces- is very well equipped in its reprographic faci- sarily confined to the South. Many of them lities. Having the status of an university, it have become aware of the richness of the col- has got a remarkable collection of scientific lection of scientific literature, spanning a wide literature in statistics (pure and applied), range of subjects, readily accessible to this mathematics, econometrics and allied disci- Centre at its host institution - the Indian plines. ISI also extends reprographic services Institute of Science - and other special libra- to outside organizations, including Insdoc, ries in the Bangalore area. though primarily it has been set up to cater to internal needs. ISI has got microfilming equip- The offset printing sections at both ment, readers for ribbon rnicr ofilrn and sheet Delhi and Bangalore are being used mainly for microfilm (microfiche) as well as for opaque producing the internal publications for docu- microcards. They are reported to have mentation work namely, the Indian Science ordered for a Xerox equipment, which is to be Abstracts, Annals of Library Science &: Docu- installed shortly. mentation, the series of Union Catalogues of Scientific Periodicals in Indian libraries etc. As a special case, some special publications Atomic Energy Establishment of outside or ganisat ions have been undertaken for the Indian Institute of Science, the Common- Indian contr i.bution to the peaceful use s wealth Institute of Biological Control, the of atomic energy has gained world-wide Radio Research Committee of the CSIR, the reputation. The Department of Atomic Ener gy Indian Agricultural Re search Institute, etc. of the Government of India has its rnajor research and development facilities in the Bhabha The reprographic services of Insdoc both Atomic Research Centre. recently re -named at Delhi and at Bangalore have brought in their in honour of Homi J. Bhabha, the illustrious wake an increased realization of the potentiali- scientist. Mainly to meet the internal demands ties of reprographic tools, particularly in the for scientific documents from more than Z, 500

198 Ann Lib Sci Doc REPROGRAPHY IN INDIA

of their scientists working mostly in the graphy offers in increasing productivity and by Bombay area and also in other centres in the minimizing time, effort and cost of paper work country, the BARC has got an excellent array is being slowly recognised; but the awareness of equipment: Xerox 1385 Master-Maker, is yet to come to a very large number of poten- Xerox 1824 Universal Enlarger Printer, tial users and beneficiaries of reprography. Remington Rand Photo Copier, Kodograph This may be due to the absence of a central Micro-print Reader, Recordak Microfilm national agency or a society interested in the Readers, Ross Universal Micro-Reader, popularisation of reprographic techniq~es and Multilith 1250 offset printer and other related in the propagation of news about its Clevelop- accessories. They have planned to instal ments and its applications, elsewhere. several readers and reader -printers to enable extensive use of microfilms and microfiche as, Even the few industrial unit. that have in these versions, large quantities of current installed reprographic sections do not seem research reports on atomic energy are acquired to have been guided impartially on the proper from various foreign countries, particularly choice of the systems and equipment. Often, from the USA and through the International the decision to acquire a specific type of. Atomic Energy Agency at Vienna. equipment is taken on the basis of advice ten- dered by an engineer or an executive from.a Some university libraries have equipped foreign collaborating industry or on the basis themselves with some basic reprographic of a recommen.dation by an Indian engineer or equipment, to serve their own research de- executive who has (perhaps casually) seen one partments and also outside parties who demand of the marvellous reprographic gadgets in a copies of scientific material in the collections foreign country. This is not to say that the of the libraries in these universities. As an installations of reprographic unit. in the few example, can be cited the MULDOS (Madras industries in India that have them, are all University Library Documentation Service), incorrect. On the contrary, such installations which has a simple contact printer, an enlarger have helped to make more people aware of the and a small capacity microfilming camera. advantages of reprography, even though the Several more universities are in the process of economic viability of a particular reprograph1c setting up reprographic units attached to their installation, or the process and equipment libraries. Many universities seem to be con- chosen, may be open to question. tent now with having just a microfilm reader in their library. As examples, may be cited:

Special reprographic problems vis-a-vis The Xerox model 1824 installed at the scarcities Hindustan Machine Tools Factory at Kalama.- sery, Kerala, and the Xerox 1318 unit (basi- Sometimes some special reproduction cally, a proce ss -camera type of design, built problems are brought in to Insdoc. Though by Messrs. Hunter-Penrose Littlejohn, of many of these are generally of such a nature England), with a xerographic adapter, installed that they can be handled with existing facilities at the headquarters factory of the HMT at at Insdoc, the paucity of specialised reprogra- Bangalore. The Xerox 1824 unit is capable of phic materials, due to severe import restric- taking microfilmed records (either as in rolls tir.-" have obliged Insdoc not to be as helpful or as strips or as individual frames mounted :0 '{ome clients as we would like to. This is in aperture cards) and has the ability to -";pecially distressing since the technical know reproduce enlarged versions on ordinary ;.10W and competence are available but lack- of paper as a xerographic powder image. The proper materials is the main problem. spare capacity of their microfilming and Xerox reproduction facilities are a vaj lable to Internal Reprography Services in Industrial outside parties, on payment. Enterprises One of the important ordnance factories In recent years there has been a growing engaged in defence production is reportedly recognition of the need to instal reprographic going in for the installation of one Kontophot service systems to aid efficient management equipment (distributed by Agfa -Gevaert India of administrative and technical records in Ltd) which is an unique combination of a pro- industrial houses. The advantages that repro- cess camera, a photostat camera and a micro-

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filming camera. The installation is yet t J be specially treated, though non-sensitive, image commissioned in this factory, but it if! r: .oected recdving paper, for keeping the unit in use. to meet a wide range of repro graphic require- Due to import restrictions it was practically ments. impossible to ensure regular supplies of these materials as well as the activator- The Bharat Heavy Electricals in their chemical. two plants at Hyderabad (one for heavy power equipment and another for switch-gear) are The Indian Agricultural Research Insti- also installing microfilming and re -enlar ging tute' New Delhi, had acquired through one of equipment, and an offset printing unit to meet the foreign aid programmes, a 'Filmac -100' their internal needs. A sister unit called the reader -printer (made by the 3M Company in Heavy Electricals Limited at Bhopal also has U. S. A.). This is a very convenient apparatus a well-equipped internal reprography unit. for instant reproduction of readable hard copies from microfilmed images, which can The above are only stray examples to be obtained selectively and quickly at the indicate the current inte re st evinced by top push of a button. The IARI has managed to managements of various industries in the obtain a fair ly large supply of rolls of the public sector. In privately-owned industries specia l paper (having a thin aluminiwn foil also interest in reprographic systems is evi- laminated to the paper base) as required by dent. For instance, the Tata Iron and Steel the process of photo-conductography employed Company at Jamshedpur recently advertised in this unit. To ensure a regular supply of for an executive at a fairly high level for the this special type of material, which is made management of their repro graphic installation. only in the USA, will be a problem. One of the foreign oil companies is reported to have acquired a Xerox unit at Bombay or Availability of Imported Reprographic Calcutta. These instances are, however, only Equipment and Materials few and far between. There are still a very large number of industrial units who are either Until a few years ago even the common not aware or cannot find the financial resources photographic materials were not produced in to instal their own repro graphic units and to India and were available only through imports. derive the benefit therefrom. In the early 1950's, before the import restrictions were tightened, sporadic imports were In several cases, particularly of made of microfilming cameras and processing academic and research institutions, some and reading equipment; contact copiers (with reprographic installations have been set up diffusion transfer processing gear), and diazo with foreign aid. In many of these institutions printers. Photostat, Statfile, Copycat, Banda, also, the lack of proper advice on the choice Azoflex etc were some of the brand names of equipment, to suit the exact needs of the imported from the UK; Duplomat (Dr Boger's), organisations, has resulted in inadequate use Lwnoprint, Fotoclark (Freidrich Grun), Leitz (or, even abandonment) of the installation. The Reprovit and Zeiss Dokumator carne in from main difficulty in such cases appears to be the Germany (West and East) and Recordak, Veri- continual recurring need for sensitive mate- fax, Photostat, 3M and Remington Ra.nd": rials, chemicals and spare parts which have Transcopy from the USAwere among the ;ef to be imported in the unhelpful climate of , brand names that were imported, though 0<. import restrictions and foreign exchange small scale. Excepting the DTR processors shortage. At the time of selecting the equip- and contact printers, most of the other units ment, adequate attention does not appear to were only imported alter firm orders had been have been given by many of the Indian execu- secured by the distributors. Indian market tives and their foreign advisers to this point. conditions were not ripe enough for the import of, or dealer in, reprographic hardware to The Indian Council of World Affairs at gamble on investing capital and on exhibiting New Delhi obtained through the Ford (or expensive and precision equipment on the Rockefeller) F'ounda t ion, a Verifax Signet slender chance of some future orders. A Copier made by Eastman Kodak, U.S.A.; only number of commercial firms evinced interest after installing the unit did the concerned and some of them installed some kind of equip- authorities wake up to the fact that they needed ment as an office copying device. In many supplies of the special matrix paper and the cases again, the choice of equipment cannot be

200 Ann Lib Sci Doc REPROGRAPHY IN INDIA

said to have been based on full knowledge and in quantity, but definitely in quality. M/a enlightened judgement; it was more a credit to Kilburn 8. Company with headquarter. in the salesman of a particular importing firm to ,Ca lcutta are producing a range of stationary have secured the order for a particular piece and rotary diazo printers, in technical colla- of equipment or process, by the buyer. boration with M/s Hall Harding of UK; M/s Das Reprographics Ltd., also at Calcutta, In the late 1950's when interest in repro- have recently introduced a range of diazo graphy appeared to take on momentum and printers based on original designs of Mis Van there appeared to be a potentially large demand , der Grinten of Venlo, Netherlands, pioneers for reprographic systems in India, the econo- in the semi-wet diazo process. Printers, mic ills of the nation compelled the government developing units and combination units of the to impose very severe re et r ic ttona on imports. Van de r Grinten types are being made by Das Unfortunately, reprographic equipment and t Reprographics. A sister concern [Da s Zim- materials (along with conventional photogra- mermann &. Co. ) has been producing simple phic items) came to be classified among diazo printers and auxiliaries in collaboration luxury goods. The quotas of even the big im- with A. M. Zimmermann &. Ci e , of West porting houses with international affiliations Ge r ma ny . M/ s Mahomed Ebrahim &. Co. and (Kodak Limited, Ilford Limited, Agfa India NuWood Industries (P) Ltd. both at Madras, Limited, Allied Photographics Limited, the are making office copiers and plan printers, Scientific Instrutnents Company Limited etc. ) respectively, for diazography, both lines being were reduced progressively and drastically, marketed by Kilburns. Even though both the within a few years, to 2 1/2 to 510 of what they ranges of machines are engineered and fabri- were previously importing. This policy even- c ated in the country the ultra -violet tube s are tually strangled the possibilities of e xte ns ion still being imported. The special phosphors of use of reprogra phic techniques in India. required for actinic blue emission are not based on imports. being manufactured in India, though a lot of developmental work for this has been success- This situation, which still prevails, was fully completed in some of the research labo- not without its blessings as in other fields, ratories in the country; hence, though the where imports were not possible. The arti- conventional flourescent tubes for domestic I ficial scarcity conditions have given some and public illumination are manufactured in ': stimulus to indigenous design and production the country the special tubes giving the UV- efforts. output required for diazo printers are not. ; One factor inhibiting this manufacture may be Indigenous Production of Equipment for the want of adequate demand, to justify mass Reprography production (of this special type) though the technological competence may be there. A quick survey of the field today revtals the following bird's eye view. Simple ~ In the duplicating field, a number of printers for document reproduction are being cheap hectographito duplicators are being n1flde made by two or three firms; these do not have by small firms. Among the stencil duplica(·ors vacuum contact facility, but are good enough the world famous firm of Gestetners are the for reflex copying from loose -leaf documents only ones manufacturing rotary stencil dupli- and thin pamphlets and journals. The principal cators (both electrical and manual models), manufacturers in this field are - (1) Agfa- in India. Gevaert India Limited, Bombay (and branches), (2) M/a K. B. Industries, Lucknow and (3) M/s Regarding offset-printing, so far there H. I. Prince &. Company, Bombay. has been no indigenous production, though simple printing machinery for letterpress There has been a remarkable achieve- printing (and textile printing) as well as ment in the diaz'O field. While dia zo papers ancillary equipment like paper guillotines, were being ~actured by 4 or 5 firms in stitching and binding machines are being made. the country, for quite some time (though on a A factory is being set up in the industrial city small scale), diazo printers were not indige- of Coimbatore in South India which will shortly nously produced in India until some 8 or 9 manufacture a range of offset printing machines years back. With humble beginnings the in collaboration with the firm of MGD (Meihle, industry has made rapid strides, though not Go s s and Dexter) of USA.

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In collaboration with Pictorial Machinery Leverkusen, West Germany. Conaequent on Ltd, the Monotype Corporation of India have the merger of the two European gill.ntain the set up a plant in Bangalore for manufacture of photographic field (Agfa of Germany and procesa cameraa, whirlera and vacuum prin- Gevaert of Belgium) the two former Indian ters (for offset plate-making) retouching and distributing agencies of the parent firma layout tablea etc. Except the lens and priam namely Agfa India Limited and Allied Photo- all the other parts are made in India. graphic Ltd. have merged into Agfa-Gevaert India Limited and they diatribute, among other Shevade's Camera Worka in Belgaum, articles, the producta of the Bombay factory of Mysore State, are making custom-built pro- NIl. The range of manufacture now covers cess cameras using imported lens and prism Agfastat, Copex and Agepe papers meant for elementa. reprographic use. The demand is Jrowing and the ceilings on the import of raw materials do Only one type of microfilm reader is not enable the factory to increase productioo being made in India - the 'OFDUN' - designed sufficiently to meet the entire demand. Thoulh and produced by the Ordnance Factory at the product can be aaid to be Indian, very Dehra Dun. An improvement over the Micro- little of it ia of purely Indian origin. The baa. vi8t thia instrument has a lens also deaigned, paper is imported and so is the aUver nitrate, cut and polished by that factory in India itself, gelatine and other baaic chemicala. and has a streamlined look with a collapsible folding mirror for projection of the magnified There is great acope, in India, for image. Demand for microfilm readers has diversification of production. Even in the aU- been sporadic and regular manufacture on ver halide system there are such innovations commercial scale has not been feasible. Insdoc which have given tremendous impetus to re- has sought to break this impasse by acquiring prographic applications: (a) direct positive a few pieces and hiring them out on rental to paper (based on the Herschel effect); (b) the institutions wanting them. developer impregnated paper for the stabiUsa- tion proce •• ; (c) diffusion transfer (Copyrapid- Materials for Reprography - Indigenous type), and soft gelatine transfer (Verifax-type) Production materials. None of these, nor even the conventional paper - either of the low-speed con- There have been some attempts in the tact-printing variety or the high-speed pro- past to produce photographic films and papers jection-printing variety -- on special light- in India. None of these were organised in a weight (air mail) base, is manufactured in big way; while some were successful initially India. They are not available alao through they withered away for want of sufficient import. ' encouragement and financial backing. Two other firms who have made a mark I must mention here the successful, in producing good quality photoJraphic paper pioneering efforts made by my friend and for reprographic applications deserve mention- former colleague Dr J. V. Karandikar, to they are Adross Private Limited. Calcutta and produce photographic sensitive material under Libra Photo Industries at Podanur in Madras a grant from the Council of Scientific •• Indus- State. The efforts of these three (including trial Reaearch in the early 1940's. Some of New India) enterprises who have overcome these earlier developmental efforts still sur- some initial difficulties and have now estab- vive, perhaps under different ownerships. lished themselves as producers of dependable Lantern plates for making diapositives, quality photo-materials, have to be apprecia-. positive-type emulsion coated on flexible ted. translucent base material to provide the so called -translites" for advertising and publicity The only manufacturer of photoJraphic purposes and contact printing papers fall in film in' India, on a large scale, is the state- this category. owned Hindustan Photo Films Manufacturing Company at the lovely hill station of Ootaca- Large scale manufacture of photographic mund in Madras State. This Company was set materials was first organised in India by the up in 1959-60 by the Government of India in New India Industries Limited at Bombay in eollaboration with the French firm of Bauchet technical and financial collaboration with Agfa and Company (which has recently been taken

zoz Ann Lib Sci Doc REPROGRAPHYININD~

over by the American giant, 3M Company of mers can walk in with their documents and get Minnesota). This enterprise has a modern copies made (on diazo paper) whilst they wait. factory at an altitude of about 2.3 kms. above Curiously, these service centres also use sea-level, ensuring a temperate, moderately silver halide papers to produce copies of opa- cool climate. Power and water are abundantly que or double -sided originals which cannot available, though an artificial water reservoir be conveniently copied by the diazo proces •• had to be designed for the sake of this factory. Only in July 1967, the Prime Minister of India, The firm of Das Reprographics Pvt. Ltd. Srnt, Indira Gandhi formally switched on the also manufacture diazo paper. A number of plant. The present production is confined to srna Iler companies also produce similar positive and negative film material required material. Still, the amazing variety in base by the cinema industry. The Indian entertain- thickness, opacity, colour of the final image, ment film industry has, for a long time, been etc. , which are available in the foreign brands second only to the USA in the quantity of films made in France, Germany, Japan, the Nether- produced and it has recently been pushed to lands, U.K. and U.S.A., are yet to be made the third position by Japan. available to the Indian consumer of diazo.

Next in the order of priority for produc- Materials for duplicating processes tion by this factory is X-ray film, both for medical and for industrial use; small quanti tie s For stencil duplication the wax-coated of which have already been released in the stencil sheets are manufac ture d in India, market. Films for amateur use and the photo- though some ingredients for the coating are graphic trade, portrait studios, etc, are yet said to be imported, by Gestetner Duplicators to be made available by this factory out of its Private Ltd. own production; film manufactur-ed in France has been imported, during the past few years, For offset-printing the printing-masters by the HPF, in bulk, the cutting and finishing (alurnrni um or paper) are available only thro'l!h operations being done at Ooty before distribu- impor t s, In recent years, to conserve foreign tion. exchange, the Government of India have concluded trade agreements with many of the Materials specially meant for reprogra- socialist countries in Eastern Europe who phic use are yet to be produced by this factory have agreed to export a range of items and Micr ofiIrri having extrerne ly fine grain and high accept payment in Indian rupees, in additiort resolution as well as high contrast is not be- to barter arrangements against Indian exports. yond the present capability of this factory, and This facility has been utilised to import alu- so is the process f iIrn required by the graphic minium foils for offset-printing from Czecho- arts industry, but corrirner cial considerations ,slovakia. In 1966 the Central Electrochemical appear to have influenced the decision of the Research Institute at Karaikudi, Madras State, successfully developed the process of electro- and sta bi u se t nei r ma r'xer lor those items in chemical treatment of aluminium foils of suita- which. quantity -wi se , the demand is heaviest. ble thickness to obtain a granulated surface fit Very successful development work had been enough for accepting thin layers of printing ink concluded in this laboratory, even at the begin- or water. Commercial exploitation of this ning of 1965, for the production of X-ray films, development has already been licensed and it colour printing paper and some other specia- is hoped that Indian-made offset-printing Hsed photographic materials. plate s will be available in 19118.

1 f The lion's share of the market for diazo Recently, there was a minor crisis in paper, produced indigenously, has been cap- the offset printing and lithographic industry. tured by Messrs. Kilburn and Cornpany, Thi Desiccated egg albumen, in the form of flakes firm manufacture s both ammonia and semi -dry or granules, required for preparing the sensi-

types of paper on opaque base as well as on tiser for litho plates was being wholly impor > translucent base (Kilburn 'reproduction paper') ted. Cuts in import quotas and speculative for further reproduction. With a network of operations caused real and artificial scarcities. branches in major cities providing retail out- At the instance of INSDOC, the Central Food looks the firm also has e sta blisne d reprogra- Technological Research Institute at Mysore phic service centres in these branches. Custo- have recently developed a process for manu-

Vol 14 N'o 4 December 1967 203 NAGARAJAN

V"'facturing egg albumen granules. This process has been training batches of information scien- will shortly be licensed for commer'cial pro- tists. The syllabus in reprography spans the duction. Though the above two are very small entire gamut of systems, processes, methods aspects in the entire field of materials for and techniques now perfected and prevalent in reprography, this is m.entioned to indicate that India as well as in the advanced countries of Indian ingenuity and competence can be counted the world. upon to rise to the occasion when a problem of import substitution is faced squarely and Occasional intensive courses had been earnestly. With similar impetus it is consi- organised by the Insdoc to an international dered that many of the other materials [or team of trainees from south -ea st Asian coun- reprography would get progressively manufac- tries once in 1956-57 and more recently in tured within India , 1963; the trainees came from as far away as Egypt in the West and South Korea in the East, Both the Monotype Corporation and Best with many from Indonesia. Malaysia, Nepal, &: Co. are separate ly marketing Indian-made Singapore, Thailand, etc. arc carbons needed for the U-V light sources , in reprographic work. There is a need for different kinds of training courses properly tailored to rneet the At present there is no production of requirements of different categories of people either equipment or materials for the thermal engaged in repro graphic organisation and ser- and electrostatic processes, A beginning has, vice. There should be one course for techni- however, been made for development of the cians and operatives, lasting from 9 to 12 "Electrofax" type of electro-photographic mate- months, which can give a proper orientation rials within India. The Central Electrochemi- and ensure a thorough grasp of basic principles cal Research Institute has made certain of reprographic systems besides giving ade- interesting experiments with indigenous mate- quate practical training in the operation and rials to arrive at suitable compositions for a maintenance of reprograpnic equipment and developing powder containing pigmented resin, the proper choice and use of materials. There for use with zinc-oxide -coated papers. could be another refresher course of short duration for those who have already gained Further developments are anxiously awaited. some practical experience in reprographic The Toshiba Autofax machine now at INSDOC, work. There could be yet another course for Bangalore, is proposed to be used for the field managers and executives who have to deliver trials of the developing powder and eventually the goods by proper organisation and manage- of the zinc -oxide paper which this Iabor atox y ment of reprographic units - whether these hopes to produce through its R &: D efforts. are se rvice or ganisations or set up mainly to meet internal needs within industries or acade- From the above it can be seen that t:~.e mic/governmental departments. Such courses reprographic industry in India is in its infancy. are best planned and organised by a central With the increasing tempo of economic deve- national body devoted to reprographic advance- Iopme nt , increasing paper work and records ment. There is need and scope for an organi- management problems will require more and sation in India to function on the lines of the varied use of reprography. There is an enor- Institute of Reprogra phic Technology, London, mous potential for the consumption of both or the Society of Reproduction Engineers, equipment and materials as well as reprogra- U. S.A., and similar bodies elsewhere. Sup- phic services to industry, business, govern- port from both government and industry will ment, academic and cultural organisations in be needed, in terms much deeper than mere the country. rnor al support and encour a gement ,

Training of Technicians and Management in Reprography Standardization of Reprographic MatterlJ Insdoc has played a pioneering role in providing training in reprography of a high The Indian Standards Institution. the standard. In a one -year long course devoted national body responsible for standards in India to documentation and reprography started in has given attention to the e stablishrnent of the 1964, the main centre of Insdoc at New Delhi necessary standards and recommended prac-

Z04 Ann Lib Sci Doc REPROGRAPHY IN INDIA

tices in certain aspects of reprography. For nous production of reprographic equipment and more than a decade a sub-committee with code materials. The available attempts that have number ECZ:Z has been fairly active in these been made so far, though successful. cover matters. under the Documentation Sectional only a few stray aspects of reprography. Indi- Committee of the ISI. Besides commenting on genous know-how has been (or is being) deve- the draft recommendations proposed for loped. without any foreign collaboration. only approval by the International Standards Orga- in such areas as aluminium foils for offset- nization. this committee alao has been pursuing printing; egg albumen for sensitizing aluminium the drafting of standards for use within the foils, tribo-electric. pigmented resinous pow- country. Standard codes of practices have beeD der complex for developing 'Electrofax' paper drafted. studied, commented upon and finally etc. It is feasible to successfully develop some approved on the following topics: of the more sophisticated equipment and materials for reprography within India. like stabi- 1. Storage and use of microfilms of lization and diffusion transfer processors. permanent value (IS:3130 - 1965) diazo coated film. 'Electrofax' - type copies Z. Processing of microfilm. etc. There is sufficient engineering and scientific talent of proper calibre is available. Work is in progress concerning a code What is needed is the impetus and perhaps an on the avoidance of damage to microfilms and incentive for such developmental work. The another on the quality aspects of microfilm. importance of reprographic systems. as one More standardisation work will be pursued of the essential labour -saving and economising when the range. variety and quantity of equip- devices in all walks of national activity, has to ment and/or materials for reprography pro- be brought home to people who matter. duced in India increase in the future. Due regard has to be paid to the climatic conditions Attention has to be patdt o establishing a as well as technoeconomic levels of living and permanent machinery (and an advisory body organizational practices in the country, while for it) for running regular and continual train- devising either quantitative or qualitative stan- ing programme s in reprography at various dards in the field of reprography. No doubt as levels. far as possible conformity with the high levels of standards already existing in the field in A central advisory body composed of some countries has to be aimed at, making experienced people should be set up for the departures only when the conditions peculiar screening and clearance of proposals for esta- to the country warrant. There is scope for blishment of reprographic units in industries, associating a greater variety of people (having busine sshouse s , governme nt departments, technical and scientific expertise in the design, research laboratories, universities, etc. for development, production as well as use of the whole country. This will help to minimise, reprographic systems) in the standardization if not complete ly to eliminate, the somewhat activities of the ISI in this field. chaotic conditions prevailing at pre sent where- in one often finds ill-advised choice of equip- Conclusion ment, not being fully utilised or, in some cases, systems are set up with equipment not The description given above gives a more adequately suited to the requirements, or for or less correct picture, though not very exhaus- which materials and spares cannot be obtained tive and perhaps accurate, of the state of re- easily in India. prography in India. The imperative need at In view of its achievement in the econo- present is for steps to be taken in the following mic progre ss & nation building activitie s, India directions: has already assumed a leading role, in many fields, among the developing nations. It has A national organization has to be formed to take the initiative in establishing interna- for the promotion of reprographic activities tional co-operation in reprography, particu- and propagation of current knowledge regarding larly among the developing countries. Such developments and its applications in this fast- co-operation can take the form of combined developing vast field, to potential users in the activities in training programmes, research country. and development work and judicious adopting and adaptation of sophisticated systems that A more intensive effort has to be made have been established in the more advanced to catalyse developmental work in the indige- countries.

Vol 14 No 4 December 1967 Z05