National Library of India, Kolkata
“The only thing that you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.” ― Albert Einstein They have been called "raucous clubhouses for free speech". They have been called "delivery rooms for the birth of ideas". Without them, societies have been warned, that they have "no past and no future". With them, societies have been assured, there is no better protection against tyranny, xenophobia and ignorance. With such widespread and deep intellectual backing across the world, India was no stranger to the great benefits of public libraries. Sayyaji Rao Gaekwad III, the Maharaja of Baroda, who kick-started the public-library system in 1910, wanted his people to be "pupils in the people's university". The kingdom of Kolhapur, in what is now Maharashtra, passed India's first Public Library Act in 1945. Since then, 19 Indian states--the latest being Arunachal Pradesh in 2009--have passed laws enabling the establishment of libraries open to the public. Yet, India with its 1.2 billion people and after seven decades of independence, does not know how many public libraries it has. Using a conservative estimate of 35,000 libraries, based on calculations by Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation (RRRLF), a trust which funds public libraries and comes under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture, there is only one library per 36,000 people. Compare that with China with a 2013 population of 1.36 billion and 51,311 libraries i.e. one public library per roughly 26,000 people. The United States with a population of 315 million and 16,500 public libraries has one library for every 19,000 people. An effort to correct the anomaly was the launch of National Mission on Libraries (NML) in February 2014 by President Pranab Mukherjee. Acknowledging the critical role of libraries--and apparently paraphrasing the Maharaja of Baroda--Mukherjee said: “A public library is often called the “people’s university” because it is available to all sections of the society regardless of age, gender, or skill levels.” The Government of India has allocated Rs 400 crore for the National Mission on Libraries over the next three years, including the creation of a national virtual library, model libraries and staff training. (Read our previous report on how the NML could revitalise the public library system here.) But India's largest, most-populous states don't really care. As the graph below indicates, large states such as Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Jharkhand have not bothered to even apply for the money available. Only 2% of the total 12,000+ libraries that received assistance were in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in the country. 