When Maharashtra State was formed on 1st May 1960 the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri Yeshvantrao Chavan enumerated certain principles which will be the foundation of the basic policy guiding the future administration of Maharashtra. One very important principle was to make efforts for the development of Marathi Language and Literature. For this purpose the Maharashtra State Board of Literature and Culture was established on 19th November 1960 under the President ship of Tarkatirtha Shri Laxmanshastri Joshi. This Board took up several activities out of which one of the most important was to produce a Marathi Vishvakosh (Encyclopedia) on the lines of the famous Encyclopedia Britannica. It was proposed that the Vishvakosh will consist of 20 Volumes. Between 1960 and 1980 the Board produced 10 volumes. The activities of the Board had increased manifold and therefore the Board was bifurcated and a separate Board was established on 1st December 1980 only for the purpose of the Vishvakosh known as Maharashtra Rajya Marathi Viswhvakosh Nirmiti Mandal (Maharashtra State Marathi Encyclopedia Production Board). Tarkatirth Shri Laxmanshastri Joshi was made its President. Due to the fast increase in the development and expanse of knowledge it was decided that 23 Volumes should be produced instead of the first proposed 20. Volume 21 would deal with Definitions, Volume 22 would be Maps and Volume 23 would be the Index.

Marathi Vishvakosh is an all encompassing collection of knowledge and consists of more than a hundred fundamental branches of knowledge and thousands of subjects. Of the total number of pages half are devoted to Science and Technology. In the present era of science and technology the latest facts are made simple in the Marathi language for the common man of Maharashtra. The Board is also producing “Kumar Vishvakosh” an Encyclopedia for the young adolescents.

Tarkatirth Shri Laxmanshastri Joshi died on 26th May 1994 at the age of 94 and was President till the end. After him Prof. M.P. Rege became the President and remained the President until his death in 2000. After him Shri R. G. Jadhav became the President who resigned on health grounds. Now the renowned scholar and thinker Dr Shrikant Jichkar has been made the President who took charge on the 1st of August 2003.

The Marathi Vishvakosh is produced by the Maharashtra State Marathi Vishvakosh Nirmiti Mandal which is appointed by the Government of Maharashtra. Dr Shrikant Jichkar has been appointed as the President of the Board by a Government Resolution Dated 21st July 2003. He assumed office on the 1st August 2003. The Board consists of 23 Members including the President and a Secretary. All the Members are great scholars and experts in their own fields. The meeting of the Board takes place at least twice in the year. The President is the Executive head of the Board. The Board is under the Cultural Affairs Ministry of the Government of Maharashtra with Shri Sanjay Narayan IAS as the Secretary and Hon'ble Shri Ashok Chavan as the Minister in charge. The President is also the General Editor of the encyclopedia and he is entrusted with the work of finding experts to write the entries, editors to edit them, critics to review them and then to read al the final entries, edit them, and accept those for inclusion in the Vishvakosh. The Head office of the Vishvakosh Mandal is located in Mumbai. The editorial office is situated in Wai in Satara District where the Vishvakosh has a Library consisting of forty thousand books. The library is very rich. It contains all the major encyclopedias published in the world and reference books on all the subjects required for the work. A permanent staff consisting of Editors, Assistant Editors, clerks, typists, stenographers, etc is stationed at Wai. There is a special Government Press in Wai set up only for the work of printing of the Vishvakosh. The Press is situated on the land belonging to the Vishvakosh Mandal. The work of writing text of the different entries is entrusted to experts in the field who send their entries. These entries are then critically examined by the critics before submission for inclusion to the President. The Board has a Secretary who is a permanent employee of the Board. The Annual budget is provided by the Government of Maharashtra

it has been decided to produce the Marathi Vishvakosh Varshiki (Almanac) 2004 on a commercial basis. This will be a very handy book of one thousand pages, very easy to read and handle. It will be in Marathi and will be sold to Marathi speaking people in Maharashtra, India, the USA and in Europe. Work for producing the Almanac will be done in Nagpur with a staff of 50 people. Nagpur is selected for this work because Dr Shrikant Jichkar stays in Nagpur and has is personal library of more than 52,000 books, there is a big University Library for help, there is less expensive space available fordoing the work and for lodging and boarding. Some work will be done in Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi and Wai. This work will be completed within a period of one month. It is expected that the printing work will take about a month. The work will start on war footing on the 15th September 2003and the Almanac will be ready by 15th November. It will come in the Market on the 1st of December and will remain in the market all through 2004.

One lakh and twenty thousand copies of the Almanac will be printed and sold. All this will be done on a commercial basis. The price of each copy will be approximately Rs 250 in India and US $ 12 abroad.

With a huge population students appearing for competitive examinations and with Kaun Banega Karodpati having popularized the general knowledge and current affairs amongst the general public , this Almanac will have great demand.

There are 7 crore Marathi speaking people in the World. The population of Maharashtra is 10 crores. The persons in the age group of 15 to 24 are 2 crores in Maharashtra. There are 68,798 Primary Schools, 16,019 Secondary Schools. and 3903 Higher Secondary Schools. There are 3.07 Lakh Primary teachers, 2.36 Secondary and 33 thousand Higher Secondary Teachers. There are 1786 Colleges and Institutions with 10.35 Lakh students and 36 thousand teachers

30 thousand youngsters appear for the various competitive examinations every year.

There are a lakh Marathi speaking people in the United States. Dr Jichkar recently attended the conference of the Brihanmaharashtra Marathi Mandal in New York and has close contacts with them. The Marathi speaking heads of families are very keen on purchasing the Vishwakosh which is now out of print. The Mandal expects that ten thousand copies of the Almanac will be very easily sold in the United States. Similar is the situation in the UK and Europe. It is expected that ten thousand copies of the Almanac will be sold in the UK and Europe.