'File 11/46 Publicity in the Persian Gulf' [‎87v] (174/314)

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tion, A. Paragraph 9) died an unnatural death. There
seems little doubt, however, that a popular magazine in
English, if edited by a competent staff and written by
journalists with a "slick" touch, would command a
ready sale not only throughout the Commonwealth but, if
a sufficiently high standard of printing and a sufficiently
large run could be maintained) in America also ; and it
should be carefully recorded that the decision to discon
tinue The Bugle, forced as it was by the end of hostilities,
should not prejudice an investigation into the possibili
ties for a magazine of a similar type to circulate through
out the English-speaking world.
As the parts of the British Commonwealth overrun by
the Japanese are liberated, the question of Indian pub
licity to the liberated areas will come up. Preliminary
investigations into the problems of type and compositors
show that the difficulties of producing magazines in Far
Eastern languages are great; but apart from difficulties
of type, the format of the magazine Dunya and the
methods by which it is produced make it an ideal
vehicle for such publicity work.
10. India:—
The end of the war does not present to United
Publications a large set of immediate problems for
solution. For some months past the contents of the
magazines have been made progressively less dependent
on war news and the thoughts of the public have been
turned to the problems of peace — immediate problems
such as resettlement, and long-term problems such as
industrial expansion, education, illiteracy etc. United
Publications present ideal media in which such pro
blems can be discussed and clarified and should, there
fore, prove an invaluable asset to any government in
building up the post-war India.
The main difficulty will be the absence of-an efficient
distribution organization inside the country; but we
ourselves have taken steps to set on foot the nucleus of
such an organization, at least in Ihe cities, and there are
signs that a similar organization could be rapidly built
up in rural areas.
The end of the war will probably see a large increase
in the output of pamphlets by departments particularly
concerned with immediate post-war problems. Some
advantage would be gained by the centralization of a
pamphlet producing unit, and it has now been decided
that this unit should be located in the Publications
Division. The unit will aim at producing one pamphlet
a month in English and the question is being investigated
of translating these at first into the following languages:
Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujerati and Tamil. Three of these
pamphlets, namely, 400 Millions to be Fed, Post-War Plann
ing and The Conquest of Ignorance have already appeared
on the market and the responsibility of the Publications
Division in connection with these three pamphlets is
limited to distribution.
B. PRODUCTION.
One of the main themes running through all the Pro
gress Reports of this Division has been the difficulty of
obtaining adequate printing facilities. The end of the
war should show some improvement in the position in
the not too distant future. But it should be clearly
realised that new methods and new processes may have
to be developed and expanded in India before the pro
ducts of Indian presses can compete on the world mar
kets. American magazines that have circulated in the
Middle East, for example, show a standard of production
probably in advance of anything that has come out o*
Indian presses so far, and we have recently seen a
magazine designed by the Japanese for publicity in
Burma that reaches a high but not necessarily imposs il "*e
standard for India.
1. RUSSIAN:-
Russian type has been supplied to a large commercial
press which has already trained some compositors in
its setting. The press is now practically ready to go
ahead with printing a Russian version of Indian Studies
as a companion to Indian Chronicle.
2. IRANIAN PERSIAN: —
(a) Ahang:
The new version of Ahang is now ready. It shows a
very distinct improvement over the old issues. One of the
valuable innovations is the idea of printing in English
learned articles by Persian scholars on subjects of
historical etc. value which might otherwise not appear
in English. Ahang is also being used as an unofficial
organ of the Indo-Iranian Cultural Society and it is hoped
to print regular reports on its working. •
The editor has received a severely critical letter from
a well-known Persian author complaining that his article
was severely cut; the article was, however, printed by
us exactly as it was received and a soothing letter has
been sent to the author.
( b) The Persian version of India's Natural Resources
will be out early in October.
(c) The Persian version of India 1945 is also expected
early in October.
(d) The decision has been taken to discontinue the
Bugle Library Series " A
3. AFGHAN PERSIAN:-
It is hoped that we shall shortly have authentic reac
tions to Taj Mahal from Kabul. When these are received
it will be possible to make, if necessary, changes in the get-
up of the magazine to make it more'popular in that country.
4. PUSHTU :-
Reactions to ZhtUfind are still difficult to obtain and
hard to evaluate. The magazine has been sent to Kabul