SOCIAL EDUCATION AND LIBRARIES
A. SOCIAL EDUCATION The programme of social education is a comprehensive one, and it aims at providing education for the betterment of the life of the adult population. The responsibility for carrying out social education in the field is that of the State Governments. The role of the Ministry of Education is to coordinate programmes and to provide supporting services and conduct pilot projects which are of importance to the programme of social education in the country as a whole.
1.2. The question of liquidating illiteracy and the magnitude of the problem continued to engage the attention of the Ministry of Education in the year under report. The State Governments and Union Territory Administrations were requested to increase the tempo of literacy work. In spite of a good response the State Governments could not accomplish the task unless hundred per cent assistance was provided by the Union Government. This has, however, not been possible because of the national emergency and consequent non- availability of additional financial resources. The State Governments and the Union Territory Administrations have, however, included social education with literacy as the core activity in the annual budgets for 1964-65 within their ceilings to the maximum extent possible. The details about important activities during the year are given in the following paragraphs.
2. Workers' Social Education Institute, Indore.-The pilot project for providing social education for industrial workers at Indore continued to function during the year. Several improvements in the activities of the Institute have been suggested. The Secretary of the Institute was deputed to Delhi for orientation in the new techniques and methods of organising literacy classes. He was attached to the National Fundamental Education Centre and the National Institute of Audio-Visual Education for the purpose. Negotiations Are under way to start another institution of this kind at an important industrial Centre of the country, in consultation with the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
3. Vidyapeeth Programme.-The original plan was to establish eight vidyapeeths in the Mysore State, but due to the non-availability of additional funds, the Mysore State Adult Education Council could establish six vidyapeeths so far and is taking steps to establish one more. The objective of the vidyapeeths is to train village youths for rural leadership.
4. Assistance to Voluntary Organisations.-During the year 15 voluntary educational organisations were assisted to the extent of Rs. 1,19,943 for the development of various activities relating to social education and libraries.
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4.2. Grants amounting to Rs. 1,82,414 had been sanctioned to 16 institutions for a similar purpose during 1962-63. Eight institutions have furnished audited accounts relating to the proper utilisation of funds. The cases of others are being pursued and their accounts also are expected early.
5. Production of Literature for Social Education.-The steps taken to encourage production of literature for neo-literates and the new reading public are stated below.
5.2. Prize Competition for Books for Neo-literates : During the year, authors,of 34 prize-winning books/manuscripts under the Ninth Competition were paid the prize money of Rs. 500 each, four authors of the prize-winning books under the Eighth Competition for Books for Neo-literates were paid an additional prize of Rs. 500 each. Fifteen hundred copies each of the 38 prize-winning books and 15 translations of additional prize-whining books of the previous competitions were purchased for free distribution to community development and N.E.S. blocks, social education centres and school libraries through the State Governments and Union Territory/Area Administrations. Twenty- three translations of additional prize-winning books of the previous competitions were also approved for the purchase of 1,500 copies each during the year. Two hundred and twenty-six entries have been received for the 10th Competition, the results of which will be announced shortly.
5.3. Unesco Prize Competition for Books for the New Reading Public : During the year, the results of the Third Competition on the best books for the new reading public in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil and Urdu, published between January, 1961 and December 1962 were announced. Seven prizes of $400 (approximately Rs. 1,900) have been awarded to authors/ publishers, under this competition, as follows :
Hindi-4, Bengali-2, Urdu-1. No prize has been awarded to any book in Tamil since only 2 entries were received and both of them were found to be below the mark.
5.4. During the year, the first meeting of the Regional Coordination Committee of the Unesco for Reading Materials Project was held in New Delhi from 29th to 31st August, 1963. Besides India, delegates from Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, Iran, Afghanistan, and Ceylon and 2 Unesco officials attended the meeting which was presided over by the Education Secretary. Among other topics, the meeting discussed the activities of the Reading Materials Project for 1963-64 and formulated proposals for 1965-66. It also discussed current national programmes in the field as well as the possibility of coordinating them with Unesco.
5.5. Direct Production of New Books : A sum of Rs. 20,000 was sanctioned to M/s. Hindi Vishwa Bharati, Lucknow, as the fifth instalment of the Union Government's assistance for the production of a 10-volume Hindi Encyelopaedia. The 10th and the last volume is expected to be out by the end of the year.
5.6. Sahitya Shivirs : Sahitya shivirs are literary workshops for training authors in the technique of writing books for neo-literates. They are organised with the help of State Governments. Each shivir is of 6-8 weeks' duration. During 1963-64, the scheme remained suspended due to the national emergency.
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6. Popular Literature Committee.-The original Folk Literature Committee, constituted in 1953, was re-named Popular Literature Committee and has now been reconstituted. The Committee advises the Union Government on matters relating to the production of literature for neo-literates and the new reading public. Three meetings of this committee were held during the year.
7. National Book Trust.-During the year till 31st December, 1963 the Trust was sanctioned a sum of Rs. 2,00,000 as Government grant to carry on its activities. The Trust published or sponsored the publication of 19 books in English, Hindi, and other regional languages bringing the total number of books brought out by it up to 31st January, 1964 to 93 (including one reprint). The list of such publications is at Annexure VI. Its programme includes a new series of books under the title `India : Land and the People'. The first few volumes of this series are expected to be out by the end of the year.
8. Standing Committee of the Central Advisory Board of Education on Social Education.-This Standing Committee was constituted on broader lines in June, 1962. Its terms of reference are, in short, to assess the present position of social education in all its aspects and to study the various problems relating to social education for the country as a whole and to submit a report to the Central Advisory Board of Education. The Committe held five meetings so far. It finalised the `Concept of Social, Education' and also issued a questionnaire.
B. LIBRARIES AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT 9. In this sector, the Union Government maintain and develop and help the development of a few libraries of all-India importance on the one hand, and on the other, coordinate programmes and conduct pilot projects of relevance to social education which has within its purview general libraries, public libraries and rural libraries for neo-literates and the new reading public. The National Library, Calcutta and the Central Reference Library are-cases in instance of the former type, while the programmes of developing library services and of sustaining literacy relate to the other category of the Union Government's activities. In addition, the Central Secretariat Library that functions as a part of the Ministry of Education caters to the needs of all Ministries and departments of the Union Government, while carrying on some useful documentation programmes on educational and other literature. An account of the activities of the various libraries directly maintained or sponsored by the Ministry and also the programmes followed for the development of library services in the country as they relate to, social education, is given in this section.
10. National Library, Calcutta.-Formerly, the Imperial Library, Calcutta, under the British regime, the National Library, Calcutta, has made Substantial progress and undergone spectacular expansion since independence to be a premier library in the country. It continued to maintain its progress and offer its many-sided services during the year. One of the most important acquisitions of the Library during the period was the microfilm copy of the Vandemataram Volumes edited by Shri Aurobindo at the beginning of the present century. Another was the collection of `Tagoriana', presented to the library by Shri Pulinbihari Sen, a well-known author.
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10.2. An exhibition of books and periodicals bearing mainly on sarvodaya and bhoodan was organised in the Library when Vinobaji, the Sarvodaya leader, visited it on 14th June, 1963.
10.3. The first phase of the Annexe to the main building of the National Library, Calcutta, which envisaged the construction of first two storeys, is nearly complete. Expenditure sanction for Rs. 16.14 lakh, including departmental charges, has further been issued by the Ministry of Works, Housing and Rehabilitation for the second phase, of the building.
10.4. The number of readers who visited the Reading Room at the National Library during the period April, 1963 to December, 1963 was 2,75,112.
11. Central Reference Library, Calcutta.-One of the main functions of the Central Reference Library (presently functioning in the National, Library, Calcutta till. such time as its buildings come up at Delhi) is to compile the Indian National Bibliography in Roman script on the basis of material collected under the Delivery of Books (Public Libraries) Act, 1954. Its object is to coordinate liaison work in the world. of; library on a national basis. The following publications were brought out during the period by the Indian National Bibliography Unit of the Central Reference Library. Calcutta :
(1) Indian National Bibliography Vol. 5, No. 3
(in Roman script)
(2) Do. Vol. 5, No. 4
(3) Do. Vol. 6, No. 1
(4) Annual index for the year 1962
11.2. The Indian language fascicules of the Annual Volume of the Bibliography, which were completed and edited by the staff of the Indian National Bibliography Unit, were published during the year by the various State Governments as detailed below :
Sl. Language Fascicule State Government Month of Publication
1 Oriya 1960-61 (combined) Orissa April, 1963
2 Hindi 1961 Uttar Pradesh August, 1963
3 Gujarati 1960-61 Gujarat August, 1963
4 Tamil 1962 Madras September, 1963
5 Oriya 1962 Orissa December, 1963
6 Oriya January-June, 1963 Issue Orissa December, 1963
7 Kannada 1962 Mysore June,1963
8 Kannada January-June 1963 Issue Mysore October, 1963
9 Punjabi 1962 Punjab December, 1963
12. Khuda Bux Oriental Public Library, Patna.-Under a new Board of Management, set up by the Government of Bihar, this library has been in receipt of Central assistance. Against a total grant of Rs. 16,000 paid during 1962-63 to the new Board of Management, a grant of Rs. 50,500 has so far been released to the Board during the current financial year, till 31st December; 1963.
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13. Central Secretariat Library.-The Library continued to render its useful and effective services during the year. The following statistics broadly indicate the volume of work handled during the year :
Accessions
Books Over 3,119
Documents including Pamphlets Over 28,790
Periodical-Titles Over 850
Reference Queries Nearly 10,789
Loans 1,93,125
The figure for loans does not include the number of publications consulted in the various sections of the Library.
13.2. Nearly 31 bibliographies on several topics relating to education as also other subjects were compiled. The following publications are regularly brought out by the Library :
(1) Indian Education Abstracts
(2) Current Education Literature
(3) Current Administrative Literature
(4) C.S.L.
14. Institute of Library Science, Delhi.-Set up in March, 1959 with the main objective of providing and extending facilities for the training of librarians, especially for public libraries, the work of the Institute was so far being carried out in conjunction with the Department of Library Science of the University of Delhi. But to avoid overlapping and to realise the specific objectives of the Institute, its working is being reconsidered. A revised scheme for this institute is presently under consideration.
15. Draft Model Library Act.-The draft bill vetted by the Ministry of Law was sent to the State Governments and the Union Territories for their comments. Comments on the bill are yet to be received from some State Governments and Union Territories. Further action will be taken after examining the response and comments of the State Governments and the Union Territories,
16. Delhi Public Library.-The membership of the Library increased by 22,132 to 70,246 and the stock of books by 18,310 to 1,84,133. The average daily turnover of books also increased by 4,104 to 9,562. Two branches of the Delhi Public Library were opened, one in East Patel Nagar and the other in Laxmibai Nagar. Four community libraries were also opened, one each in Moti Bagh, Nanakpur, Netaji Nagar and Ramakrishna Puram.
16.2. It has been decided to take over Jawaharlal Nehru Library, Shahadra, as the third branch of the Delhi Public Library and open one more branch in Shaktinagar or some other locality. Two more community libraries at Motinagar and Ramesh Nagar will be opened and a hospital library service in one of the military hospitals will also be started.
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C.FINANCIAL PROVISIONS 17. The financial provisions for the various schemes described in this chapter are given below.
Sl. Provision for 1963-64 Provision
No. Name of the Scheme Original Revised for 1964-65
Rs. Rs. Rs.
1 Workers Social Education Institute 67,500 67,500 68,500
2 Ford Foundation Aid-Mysore State Vidya-
peeth Programme - - 56,000
3 Assistance to Voluntary Educational Or-
ganisations in the field of Social Edu-
cation and Libraries 1,59,000 1,59,000 5,00,000
4 Assistance to Voluntary Organisations
for the Production of Literature for
Neo-literates Plan 45,000 25,000 20,000
5 Production of Literature for Neo-Literates
Plan 51,000 30,000 60,000
Non-plan 90,000 90,000 90,000
6 Sahitya Shivirs for the Training of
Authors in the Technique of Writing for
Neo-literates Nil Nil 52,000
(Plan)
7 National Book Trust Plan 1,50,000 67,000 2,82,000
Non-Plan 2,50,000 1,95,000 2,50,000
8 National Library, Calcutta 22,97,000 20,76,400 26,56,000
9 Central Reference Library, Calcutta 2,38,000 2,19,800 2,91,000
10 Khuda Bux Oriental Public Library,
Patna 50,500 55,500 1,00,000
11 Institute of Library Science 90,000 90,000 1,00,000
12 (a) Delhi Public Library 3,30,000 3,50,000 4,70,000
(b) Development of Library Service in
Delhi 1,50,000 2,87,000 4,00,000