The Navjivan Trust, a publishing house founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1929, is reinventing itself to stay relevant in the present social order. For starters, it is setting up a Gandhi Café (a coffee shop-cum book store) and an art gallery on its premises to create a Gen-next zone at one of the oldest Gandhian institutions. The quiet Navjivan buildings, which usually downed its shutters by 5 pm, will now remain open and buzzing with young minds till 9 pm.

The trust will also go beyond the obligatory Gandhian literature to strike a chord with young India, aided by books on contemporary subjects. Rooted in Gandhi and his philosophy, the trust is gradually embracing non-Gandhian literature.

Emboldened by a few successes after the recent launch of Gujarati titles like Pankhioni Bhaibandhi by Lal Singh Raol, a book on bird watching, and Visarati Virasat , a Gujarati translation of the famous novel Lost Horizon by English author James Hilton, the trust is now exploring subjects like art, marketing and travel. A coffee-table book on Gujarat by noted photo-journalist Raghu Rai is in the pipeline.

Building bridges

Until last year, these topics were a ‘no-go’ area for the publishing house, but after the Board of Trustees officially adopted the resolution in this regard in 2013, this small step became a giant leap leading to Next-Generation initiatives.

“We realized that the youth has lost touch with Gandhian ideas. This is an effort to re-connect with them by providing literature of their interest. We thought, why limit ourselves to Gandhiji’s books alone? Therefore we opened our doors for those who can create a positive impact on society through their work. We want to give them a platform,” Navjivan’s managing trustee, Vivek Desai told BusinessLine . Before assuming the charge as managing trustee, Desai was a professional photographer and handled portfolio for then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, among others.

The trust’s declaration had a pre-condition to remain self-reliant and to not raise funds from outside. Hence, it took a professional route to meet the expenses by launching premium quality coffee-table books.

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