Howrah News Service: 2008 September 9
BY SONAL KELLOGG
NEW DELHI
Sept. 9: If all goes according to plan, each village and each school in India is set to have a library by the year 2020. This is the ambitious goal that the National Mission on Libraries, it is a proposal currently being finalised by the government, has set for itself.
The gargantuan project is expected to cost Rs 484 crores over a period of five years as estimated by the Union ministry of culture which is dealing with the mission. The ministry’s proposal has already got "in-principle"approval of the Planning Commission and is now awaiting the nod of the expenditure finance committee (EFC). Only after clearance by the EFC can the proposal be put before the Union Cabinet for final approval.
The Library Mission was conceived by the culture ministry following a recommendation by the National Knowledge Commission, headed by Sam Pitroda, to establish such a mission. The NKC, which is an advisory body to the Prime Minister, while formulating the motto: "Libraries: the key to prosperity" had said that it needs to be publicised proactively in order to shape public opinion and change the attitude of policy-makers in order to promote the significance of libraries.
Not only did NKC clearly state, "For each village a library, No school without a library", it also suggested that the culture ministry undertake a census of the country’s existing 59,000 libraries and establish an Indian Institute for Library and Information Sciences under the Mission.
Accordingly, the culture ministry has envisaged a library census which will take about two years to be completed. The census will be undertaken by the Raja Rammohan Roy Foundation for Libraries based in Kolkata.
