Fake Book Listed Under Jean Drèze’s Name Found in Tamil Nadu Libraries

A book credited to economist Jean Drèze has been found to be fake in Tamil Nadu public libraries. The title, "Democracy and Peoples Right in the Contemporary World," appears in the catalogue of Madurai’s Kalaignar Centenary Library and possibly other state libraries. Drèze said on Sunday that he has never written such a work and called the edition bogus. He wrote to The Hindu that he felt "foxed and baffled" by social‑media posts about the spurious title. He warned that the book could be AI‑generated and asked the Tamil Nadu government to act quickly against the publisher and anyone else involved. The book carries a valid International Standard Book Number and lists Phoenix Publishers as the source, whose address is identical to that of Akal Vilakku Publishers. The media report that sparked the clarification noted this address overlap, suggesting possible publisher misconduct. Records show the library purchased the volume on June 25 2023, a few weeks before the library’s inauguration on July 15 2023 by then Chief Minister M.K. Stalin. Drèze also questioned how the library’s procurement system failed to verify the book’s authenticity, saying a simple check could have exposed the fraud.

Context

Fake titles can enter public collections when procurement checks are weak, and AI tools make it easier to create plausible but false works. Such incidents raise concerns about the reliability of library holdings and the need for stricter verification.