It was on 1st January 1964 that I entered into printing business. Ours was the 12th  Printing Press in Jammu and operates under the name and style of "Sher-i-State Printers" and is situated at Gumat Bazar, Jammu. It was inaugurated by Shri Dina Nath Mahajan, the then Revenue Minister in Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad's Ministry.

My father was a great visionary and always believed in doing big things whereas I have led a very contended life which has helped me in attaining two hallmarks in my life - Quality and Punctuality. My son has inherited many qualities of his grand father. My father ran the business of aerated water manufacturing. He was the first in Jammu and Kashmir State to import an automatic soft drink manufacturing plant from Barnet & Foster, England through Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Bombay in early fifties. At the inauguration of our printing press 4000 invitation cards were distributed among almost all the business establishments in Jammu. At that time printing presses were mainly using Bronze Blue 9540, Red and Black normal inks. Supergloss inks were least heard of. We purchased a huge quantity of Ganges inks in different shades. This quantity was so enormous that we did not feel the need of purchasing inks for many years. Fluorescent inks were used by us in Jammu for the first time. A letter printed in 8 colours was sent to local businessmen to seek printing orders from them. Mr. Ghosh of Ganges Inks (later he floated Taas Inks Mfg. Co.) was so impressed by the deal that he came over to Jammu and on his invitation I visited the Ganges Inks manufacturing unit at Vikhroli in Mumbai.

The first printers association was formed in the year 1965 in our office and Sh. L. R. Chadha of
Naresh Art Press was made President. S. Harbans Singh of Amar Art Press, Kumari Shanta Bharti of Bharti Printing Press, Sh. Suraj Parkash Aneja of Lion Press were among the printers who attended this meeting. Unfortunately this Association could not advance past its inception meeting.
From time to time efforts were made to unite the printers. An effort was made by Mr. L. R. Ahuja and Shri Ved Gupta, editor 'Savera' and few others but this could not go past few meetings.

Jammu Printers Association (Regd.) was revived with Shri Shankar Dass Sharma as President and Shri M. D. Bhat of Kranti Press as General Secretary. This Association took up the problems of printers with various government departments. Mr. Bhat was very energetic and with his wit always kept the members in good humour. Mr. Shanker Dass Sharma was a thorough gentleman. Sales tax was a big problem and once this got solved, the association went into oblivion.

In the meantime many new printing units were being established. Printers started feeling the need of a forum where they could meet and discuss their problems and work for the well being of the industry. Shri Prem Saraf had retired from the government printing press. He possessed a diploma in Printing from Printing Institute, Allahabad. He owned VIP Press and was nominated the first President of the Association formed in 1980. Mr. O. P. Batra of Batra Printers became its General Secretary. Meetings started being held. For may years the President was being elected on the floor of the house and by show of hands and in turn the President nominated the office bearers. During 1984 a vacancy fell for the post of Vice President and Shri Prem Saraf nominated me as his deputy

I have been associated with the Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Regd.) Jammu as member since 1964 and later as its Executive Committee Member and was always influenced by its transparent mode of election. I also wanted the elections to our association to be held by secret ballot where the members will have the chance to elect their representatives without being appearing biased to the contesting candidates. Mr. Prem Saraf procured the constitution of a Printing Association and we worked together over it and framed the constitution according to our requirements and implemented it in the year 1986. Mr. Ravi Dev Sharma of Space Age Printers in the meantime served as General Secretary with Mr. Prem Saraf. 1st Jammu Printers Conference and competition was held in 1986 where Hon'ble Justice R. P. Sethi of Jammu and Kashmir High Court was the Chief Guest.

I became President of Jammu Printers Association (Regd.) in 1988. First and foremost I got the Association registered with Registrar of Societies in 1988, got it affiliated with Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Regd.) and in the same year JPA got affiliated with All India Federation of Master Printers (the Apex body of printers in India). Just by co-incidence the Governing Council meeting of AIFMP was held at Hotel Centaur Lake View,  Srinagar immediately after our affiliation. Mr. K .L. Shroff was elected President in that meeting. Mr. Shripati Sharma and myself attended this meeting. Mr. Arun Gupta joined us on 2nd day of the meeting.

2nd Jammu Printers Conference was held in 1989 under my Presidentship and Mr. Shripati Sharma was the General Secretary. I rate him as the most efficient General Secretary the Association ever had. S. Harbans Singh Hon'ble Minister for Industries and Printing was the Chief Guest. Mr. Viren Chabbra, Past President, All India Federation of Master Printers and Editor "Printing Times" (the offical journal of AIFMP) delivered the key note address. JPA has a very long and fruitful relation with him.

I will narrate a small incident to show his glayraciousness. On his way back to Delhi his flight got deed by 3 hours. So he was brought to my residence and we had lunch together. My house was under construction and Mr. Chabbra went around to have a look. He joked that if with 2 platen presses one could make such a house, he also intended to set-up a printing unit in Jammu. When he was about to leave my wife gave him a pack of home made 'Kachalus' and 'Dhokla' for Romi Bhabhi and even after more than 2 decades he never forgets to remind me of the taste and gesture on our part.

Third J&K Printers Awards was held in 2006 under the Presidentship of Mr. Arun Gupta. Mr. Satish Jandyal was the General Secretary. Shri Mangat Ram Sharma Hon'ble Deputy Chief Minister was the Chief Guest. During Mr. Arun Gupta's Presidentship JPA got affiliated with North India Printers Association.

In the interim period Shri Adarsh Pal Gupta, Shri Sanjeev Vij, Shri Shripati Sharma and Shri Girish Kapoor have served as Presidents and Mr. Naresh Dutt Mehta and Mr. Sunil Bajaj as General Secretaries of Jammu Printers Association (Regd.) and have made their due contribution in strengthening the organization.