Substandard quality and delay of textbooks in Maharashtra

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In the past 36 years, Maharashtra had acquired an excellent reputation for textbooks, in terms of quality, pricing and timely availability. Last year, the Maharashtra Textbook Bureau made drastic changes in the paper grammage and size, printing process, and style of binding. Then it decided to invite tenders for printing and binding on an all India basis instead of allotting work to registered establishments at fixed, negotiated rates. This was due to the new minister for school education. In June 2003, he was informed by interested parties that the printing and binding rates fixed by the Textbook Bureau were exorbitant. He did not try to verify this information nor did he examine how low rates affected quality and delivery schedules. ...cont´d

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