For more than half a century, the
Economic & Political Weekly (EPW) has been a major presence in India's
intellectual space. It has been a crucible for ideas and a forum for debate,
which has created a journal of international repute that has become a virtual
institution. EPW provides a multidisciplinary platform for academics and
practitioners, researchers and students, as well as concerned citizens, for
critical engagement with economy, polity and society in contemporary India.
It has always been a struggle to
ensure EPW's financial viability and sustainability. The resource constraint
has been exacerbated by our conscious decision to abstain from receiving grants
from governments and donations from abroad, to preserve the autonomy and
independence of the journal.
With the COVID-19 pandemic and the
consequent nationwide lockdown, EPW is now experiencing an unexpected and
drastic drop in revenue from retail sales (as there has been no print edition
for three months) and advertisement income (as advertising has contracted
sharply with the crisis in the economy), resulting in an acute financial
crisis. This is not unique for EPW alone. However, while other print media
organisations have resorted to closures, large-scale retrenchment of staff, and
salary cuts, it has been our endeavour not to undertake such drastic measures
in EPW. In the first two months of the
lockdown, full salaries were paid to all EPW staff. The Editor and his team
adopted drastic austerity measures and cut expenditure to the bone. In spite of
this, there was a large operational deficit every month, which could aggravate
further if the problems associated with and following the lockdown, persist. If
this excess of expenditure over income goes unchecked, a stage would come when
we would no longer be able to keep EPW alive.
The situation became so critical in
the month of June that there was no other choice but to implement a temporary
measure of reducing staff salaries. This is being done for the months of June
and July 2020 in a graduated progressive manner ranging from 0% to 40%. The
situation, however, continues to remain extremely uncertain. The financial
situation of EPW will be reviewed again in August 2020.
In these difficult and troubled times,
an institution of EPW's stature and credibility is needed more than ever
before. Well-wishers of EPW have been reaching out and urging us to do whatever
necessary to ensure EPW's sustainability.
We therefore appeal to the community
of readers, contributors, subscribers and well-wishers of EPW to come forward
and make donations to the extent each one can, so as to ensure that EPW
continues to perform its historic role. This is urgent. And it is of utmost
importance. We hope you will join us in supporting EPW.
Trustees,
Sameeksha Trust and Editor, EPW
9 July 2020
How to make donations:
We welcome
donations from Indian citizens as well as from non-resident individual Indians
and Persons of Indian Origin (PlOs), but only in Indian currency and through
regular banking channels. Donations in foreign currency and from political
parties are not accepted. Donations can be made in one of the following ways:
1. Through NEFT/RTGS: Name of the
Account: Sameeksha Trust, Bank: Union Bank of India, Branch: Mumbai Samachar
Marg, Account No: 317901010029033, IFSC CODE: UBIN0531791
2. By Cheque or Demand Draft: These
should be drawn in favour of "Sameeksha Trust" and sent to: Editor
Economic &Political Weekly, 320-322, A-Z Industrial Estate Ganpatrao Kadam
Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400 013
All donors will have to send a
photocopy (or scanned image) of Permanent Account Number (PAN) and a covering
letter, clearly stating that "this donation is to the corpus of the
Sameeksha Trust" in order to receive the Income Tax rebate under Section
80G of the Income Tax Act.
Covering letter and PAN card details can either be
emailed to donation@epw.in or posted to our address given under (2) above. For
further information, please email to donation@epw.in 
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