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D. C. Kizhakemuri | |
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| Born | Dominic Chacko Kizhakemuri (1914-01-12)12 January 1914 |
| Died | 26 January 1999(1999-01-26) (aged 85) |
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Dominic Chacko Kizhakemuri (12 January 1914 – 26 January 1999) was an Indian writer, activist, freedom-fighter and book publisher fromKerala. He founded the book publishing company known asDC Books.
He played a pivotal role in abolishing sales tax on books in the erstwhile state ofTravancore. This move influenced the thenPrime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru to abolish sales tax on books acrossIndia. He was awardedPadma Bhushan in 1999.[1] He was instrumental in promotingMalayalam, a South Indian language, through his writings as an author, and was a columnist for various publications and through his printing and publishing company, DC Books and retail concern Current Books.
Dominic Chacko Kizhakemuri was born to Chacko and Mumnayat Eliyamma on 12 January 1914 atKanjirappally in the erstwhileKingdom of Travancore.
He started his career as a teacher at the age 16 in Kanjirappally. He was then known as 'Kochusaar' meaning 'Little Teacher'. Later he passed TTC fromChanganassery and served as a teacher for 12 more years.
At that time, he was attracted towards theIndian freedom struggle and became a part of theIndian National Congress. By 1937, he became an active member of the INC and conducted many freedom fight meetings with K. J. Thomas. In 2001,DC Kizhakemuri Foundation (DCKF) was formed as a tribute to him.
DC Books[2] is apublisher and bookseller with headquarters inKottayam,Kerala,India. It publishes over 6,500 titles, mainly literature inMalayalam, but also including children's literature, poetry, reference, biography, self-help, yoga, management titles, and foreign translations. It distributes 70% of books across Kerala.
D. C. Kizhakemuri's destiny was however, inextricably linked with books. He along with his friendsPonkunnam Varkey,P. T. Chacko and K. J. Thomas opened a bookstore called National Book Stall in Kottayam. Soon after that, D. C. Kizhakemuri startedSahithya Pravarthaka Co-operative Society (SPCS) along withM. P. Paul andKaroor Neelakanta Pillai. The society was the first of its kind inAsia. SPCS published the best of works in Malayalam and worked for the welfare of the writers.
In 1949, NBS and SPCS joined forces. Under the dynamic stewardship of D. C. Kizhakemuri, this merger heralded a new age in Malayalam publishing and production which was, till then in a very dismal state. The NBS network covered all the districts of Kerala and SPCS emerged as the biggest publisher.
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