Fulfilling his commitment to establish libraries in district headquarters and villages in the state, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday approved the project to establish Panchayat libraries under Gram Swaraj Abhiyan. In the first phase, libraries will be set up in villages under Mahagram.
This decision was taken in a meeting held regarding the setting up of libraries under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister here.
Khattar directed the officers concerned that members of Panchayat should also be involved in setting up libraries in the villages. Also, a person associated with the education sector or retired officer from defence belonging to the village should also be included, he added. He said that this will encourage participation of common people in government schemes. In addition, he directed that a grading system should be prepared based on the facilities provided in libraries such as computers, number of books and number of visitors to the library.
The chief minister directed that the Higher Education Department will be the nodal department for this project, which will continuously review the progress of the project. In addition, surveys of libraries under the School Education Department, Higher Education Department or other departments, private institutions or libraries being run individually, should be conducted, he added. He also directed the officers of the School Education Department to explore the possibility of using the school library for the villagers after the schools get over and on holidays.
Information about libraries currently operating in schools and college campuses was also given by the School Education Department and Higher Education Department during the meeting. It was also informed in the meeting that libraries are being run in public places in 20 districts by the Higher Education Department. These libraries have been digitized, in which e-books are also being made available. Apart from this, books are also available in Braille script for people with disabilities.
Managing Director, National Book Trust, India, Lt Col Yuvraj Malik, gave a presentation on libraries and presented some books to the Chief Minister.
