Seed Funding For Panther’s Paw Publication [Support It]

BACKGROUND OF PANTHER’S PAW PUBLICATION

My name is Yogesh Maitreya. I am a publisher at Panther’s Paw Publication. Panther’s Paw Publication is dedicated to publish and produce literature by dalit-bahujan authors, originally in english or in english translation. In 2015, I was newly graduated with Masters in Criminology and Justice from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Till June 2015, I have worked for TwoCircles.net (American news portal) as a reporter and covered news about dalit-bahujan community. In the same month, I got an opportunity to meet Mr. J.V. Pawar, one of the founding members of Dalits Panthers. J.V.Pawar has been an imminent scholar who has written more than 45 books. He also documented the history of Ambedkarite movement in five volumes. Upon reading his first volume, in Marathi, I have realised that such versions of history is hardly known to people in English language and this deliberate ignorance is one of the obstacles in the making of democratic society. I have quit my job and started to translate the first volume of ‘Ambedkarite Movement After Ambedkar’ penned by Mr. Pawar. It took me 6 months to complete the translation. But then another hurdle was to find a publisher. I had already spent 6 months translating and quit my job for six months and surviving on money I had saved which were also running out. I decided to publish it myself. I did a little research on how to start a publication and what it requires. I have talked to hundreds of people about the possibility of helping me publish the book by pre-booking it or subscribing to our publication. For two months, I was constantly talking to people and I have managed to gather the money required for publication. To print 1000 copies, it required around 45000/-. Fortunately, trusting my efforts and seeing my desperation about bringing forgotten history in the public domain, people helped me with this. In 2016, the book, ‘Ambedkarite Movement After Ambedkar’ was published. It was the first title from Panther’s Paw Publication. Thus, emerged Panther’s Paw Publication, from my hostel room where I was staying as a PhD candidate. In the span of 4 years, we have published 9 books, all by dalit-bahujan authors in english and in english translation. To publish the books, we have followed the same pattern of Pre-booking and Subscribing.

But in March 2020, I had to leave Mumbai because of Covid-19 pandemic, and all things got shattered. My work base has been disrupted. My books were left behind. Plans for new books have witnessed tremendous setbacks. Yet, as soon as lockdown was lifted in around July 2020, we resumed our journey of reaching people about buying our books and helping us continue with our vision. Since pandemic has broken many people financially, it has been difficult for us to sustain without substantial financial capital. Hence, I am proposing Seed Funding so that Panther’s Paw Publication could be sustained with it for at least next three years during which the publication will work on its sustenance in the future.

To give a brief idea about Panther’s Paw Publication, I would like to mention a few points below so that funders could map our journey and see our contribution to society in the domain of culture and literature.

PANTHER’S PAW PUBLICATION IN NEWS

THE HINDU – The Indian Publishing House That Become A Movement

https://www.thehindu.com/books/the-publishing-house-thats-become-a-movement/article31058534.ece

THE INDIAN EXPRESS – A Publishing House That Is Translating Dalit Writers’ Work Into English

https://indianexpress.com/article/express-sunday-eye/writing-from-the-dalit-community-has-a-new-champion-a-publishing-house-run-by-a-student-6098099/

LIVE MINT (LOUNGE)- A Millennial’s Big Dreams For Dalit Bahujan Authors

https://lifestyle.livemint.com/news/talking-point/a-millennial-s-big-dreams-for-dalit-and-bahujan-authors-111607694222089.html

SCROLL – How Panther’s Paw Publication Is Publishing Its Dalit Books During, and Against Pandemic

https://scroll.in/article/969353/how-panthers-paw-publications-is-publishing-its-dalit-books-during-and-against-the-pandemic

DT NEXT – Author Starts Publishing House to Propagate Dalit Literature

https://www.dtnext.in/News/City/2020/02/16032937/1215484/Author-starts-publishing-house-to-propagateDalit-literature.vpf?fbclid=IwAR0kw9hS9iknxs2I8r_DB8AJr0o86AmJs1RfU4MqxkTq8NEcDXU32w5SUZA

THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS – How Yogesh Maitreya Set Up Publishing House To Develop An Anti-Caste Sensibility Among India’s Young

https://www.edexlive.com/people/2020/jan/31/how-yogesh-maitreya-set-up-a-publishing-house-to-develop-an-anti-caste-sensibility-among-indias-you-10082.html

THE WORKS PUBLISHED BY PANTHER’S PAW PUBLICATION

Ambedkarite Movement After Ambedkar by J.V. Pawar (translated by Yogesh Maitreya) (2016) (Political History)
Broken Man by Loknath Yashwant (translated by Yogesh Maitreya and Dr. K Jamanadas) (2016) (Poetry)
The Bridge of Migration by Yogesh Maitreya (2017) (Poetry)
Days Will Come Back by Kamal Dev Pall (translated by Rajinder Azad) (2018) (Poetry)
We The Rejected People of India by Sunil Abhiman Awachar (translated by Yogesh Maitreya) (2019) (Poetry)
Flowers On The Grave of Caste by Yogesh Maitreya (2020) (Short Stories)
Savitribai Phule and I by Sangeeta Mulay (2020) (Fiction)
Of Oppressor’s Body and Mind by Yogesh Maitreya (2020) (Literary Essays)
Dewaji: Making of an Ambedkarite Family by Dipankar Kamble (2020) (Biography)

VISION OF PANTHER’S PAW PUBLICATION

To promote dalit-bahujan writers and help them publish their works in english.
To produce forgotten histories of dalit-bahujan communities.
To create a dalit-bahujan literature in english language.
To translate the works of dalit-bahujan writers into European languages.
To publish at least 100 dalit-bahujan writers in next 5 years.
To build a team of dalit-bahujan experts in the domain of editing and designing.
To spread the literature of dalit-bahujan authors into english-speaking countries.
To spread democratic values by producing literature based on values such as equality, liberty and fraternity.

RELEVANCE OF PANTHER’S PAW PUBLICATION

If we move cursory glance over publishing industry, we rarely find any dalit-bahujan publisher in english language. We do not have a publisher which focuses only on dalit-bahujan authors which are majority in this country. Because of which, we do not get to see or read the history and story of the majority of the people of this country. Such practice hides from us the reality of the society. That is the reason why Panther’s Paw Publication only focuses on dalit-bahujan authors and stories which promote democratice values and imagination in which values such as equality, liberty and fraternity are advocated through its narratives. This is why Panther’s Paw Publication is relevant today and has to be sustained.

AUTHORS AT PANTHER’S PAW PUBLICATION

So far we have published eminent as well as younger writers from dalit-bahujan community. Their names are as follow:

V. Pawar
Loknath Yashwant
Kamal Dev Pall
Rajinder Azad
K Jamanadas
Sunil Abhiman Awachar
Sangeeta Mulay
Dipankar Kamble
Sumeet Samos
Priyamwada Redican Chakne
Yogesh Maitreya

SEED FUNDING

WHY IT IS NEEDED?

Seed fund will primarily be the capital which will help Panther’s Paw Publication to sustain in the pandemic-ridden time for at least three years. It is needed to create a formal employment for at least three people from dalit-bahujan community who will be editor, designer and copy editor and to print more and more books without being worried about pre-booking pattern of gathering funds. It will guarantee them a work for at least three years during which publication will make sure to publish enough books and distribute them widely so that it could start generating revenue in order to sustain its work in the future.

HOW MUCH IS NEEDED?

Target: 18,00,000/- Rupees (Eighteen Lakh Rupees)

Sr. No	Editor/Copy Editor	Designer	Printing/Office Expenditure	Total Monthly Expenditure
01	15000/- (salary)	5000/- (salary)	30,000/-	50,000/-

36 (months) * 50000= 18,00,000/- (Eighteen Lakhs Rupees)

HOW IT CAN BE GATHERED?

Number of Seed Funders	Amount Needed From Each Funder	Calculation	Total Amount
600	3000/- Rupees. (However, this amount limit is not restricted. Some funders who are willing to contribute more as per their capacity are welcome to do so.)	600 (seed funders) * 3000/- Rs	18,00,000/-
			18,00,000/-

HOW SEED FUND WILL BE RETURNED?

The seed fund from the contributors will be returned to them in the form of books we will be producing. For example, if the contributor will be contributing 3000/-Rupees, then books from Panther’s Paw Publication worth rupees 3000/- will be given to the contributor.

FUTURE PLAN OF PANTHER’S PAW PUBLICATION