SOCIAL EDUCATION, READING
 MATERIALS AND LIBRARIES

A. SOCIAL EDUCATION

The scope of social education is comprehensive. It aims at providing education to the adult population for the betterment of their lives and for creating in them an urge for change from traditional to a progressive society with faith in themselves and in the future of the country. The field programme of social (adult) education, with, adult literacy as the core activity, is the responsibility of State Governments and Union Administrations. The role of the Union Ministry of Education is to coordinate programmes and to provide supporting services and conduct pilot projects which are of importance to the programmes of social education in the country as a whole. The important activities in the field during the year are briefly described below.

2. Workers Social Education Institute, Indore:

The Institute continued to provide educational facilities to industrial workers at Indore. Its activities consisted mainly of conducting classes in music, drawing, English and Hindi, mahila handicraft etc. A maintenance grant of Rs. 80,800 was given to the Institute during the year. It has been decided to set up four more such Institutes in different States during the fourth Plan. The Government of Maharashtra is setting up one institute in Nagpur.

3. Assistance to Voluntary Educational Organisations:

Grants totalling to Rs. 76,348 were sanctioned during the year to voluntary educational organisations for projects in the field of social (adult) education (excluding libraries). A provision of Rs. 1,25,000 has been made for 1967-68 for the purpose.

B. READING MATERIALS

4. Prize Competition for Books for Neo-literates:

During the year authors of 31 books/manuscripts were selected for an

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award of Rs. 500 each under the Twelfth Prize Competition for Books for Neo-Literates. One thousand and five hundred copies each of 34 prize-winning books under the Eleventh Competition, 9 books under the Tenth Competition and three books under the Ninth Competition and 17 translations of additional prizewinning books of the previous competitions were purchased for distribution to community development/N.E.S. blocks, social education centres and libraries etc. through the State and Union Territory Governments where the neo- literate adults and new reading public will have access to them. Eight translations of additional prize-winning books for the previous competitions were also approved for the purchase of 1,500 copies of each during the period.

5. Unesco Prize Competition for Books for New Reading Public:

During the year, the Fifth Unesco Competition was announced. Under this competition, 16 prizes of Rs. 946 each will be awarded to authors of books in modern Indian languages. published during 1965-66 and adjudged to be best for the new reading public. There will be 3 prizes in Hindi and one prize each in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Panjabi, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.

6. Direct Production of Literature for Neo-literates :

During the year, the preparation of manuscripts of Volume IV and V of the Popular Hindi Encyclopaedia entitled "Gyan Sarovar" was completed and sent for printing. The first three volumes have already been published.

7. Popular Literature Committee:

This committee advises the Union Government on all matters Pertaining to the production of literature for neo-literates and new reading public. The committee held one meeting during the year to finalise the results of the Twelfth Prize Competition for Books for Neo-literates.

8. Sahitya Shivirs:

The Governments of Assam and Maharashtra organised a Sahitya Shivir each for training authors in the technique of writing for neo-literates. The administrative approvals for Rs. 12,800 each were issued to these State Governments for this purpose.

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9. National Book Trust:

The National Book Trust, India. was established in 1957 for the purpose of producing and encouraging the production of good literature and making it available at moderate prices to the public and also to foster book-mindedness in the people by arranging the exhibitions and seminars. In the year under review, it has added six new titles to its series, "India-the Land and People", and, more important among these are: Common Trees by Dr. R. Santapau; Land and Soil by Dr. S. P. Raychaudhuri; Minerals of India by Mrs. Meher D. N. Wadia and Domestic Animals by S. Harbans Singh. To mark the 300th anniversary of Guru Govind Singh, the Trust brought out a biography of the Sikh Guru by Dr. Gopal Singh in English, Hindi and Punjabi.

10. The English version of the biography is running in its second edition. The Trust has also brought out nineteen ad hoc titles which include important publications like Golden Treasury of Persian Poetry by Dr. Hadi Hasan, and the language versions of The Living Thoughts of Gautama, the Buddha by Shri Ananda Coomaraswamy, Science Makes Sense by Mr. Ritchie Calder, Akbar by Mr. Lawrence Binyon, Conquest of Happiness by Bertrand Russell and One World and India by Arnold Toynbee.

11. After holding six exhibitions of Hindi books at Simla, Delhi, Jaipur, Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur, the Trust organised a National Book Fair at Bombay from 5th to 20th November 1966, where 8,000 outstanding books published in India since 1964 were exhibited. A Book Week was also organised throughout the country from 8th to 14th November.

12. Another important undertaking of the Trust was the organisation of a seminar on 'The Problems of Translation' followed by a workshop course for a fortnight in Delhi during March, 1967. Twenty prominent translators from Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi are being given orientation in the art of translation in this workshop.

13. A grant of Rs. 7.04 lakh was released to the Trust for its various activities.

C. LIBRARIES

14. The Union Government maintains and develops some libraries of all-India importance, like the National Library

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Calcutta. It also carries out programmes for developing library services in the country to foster literary. The Central Secretariat Library, functioning as a part of the Ministry of Education, caters to the needs of all Ministries and Departments and also carries out useful documentation of education and other literature.

15. An account of the activities of the Ministry of Education in the field is given below:

16. Grants to Public Libraries:

Central grants are given to public libraries for their development. These grants are given for the purchase of books and furniture at the rate of 60 per cent of total expenditure and for the construction of library buildings at the rate of 40 per cent of total expenditure, or Rs. 30,000 whichever is less. During 1966-67 a provision of Rs. 2.25 lakh was made for this purpose out of which a sum of Rs. 1,99,165 was sanctioned to 27 public libraries.

17. National Advisory. Board of Libraries:

A National Advisory Board of Libraries was set up to advise the Government off India on matters relating to the reorganisation and coordinated development of libraries in the country and to promote close contact between different libraries and to foster a closer association of Government and public with the activities of different libraries in India.

18. Libraries of All-India Importance:

A brief account of these libraries is given below:

NATIONAL LIBRARY, CALCUTTA

19. Acquisition: The book acquisition programme of the library was seriously affected during the year due to the reduction in its book purchase grant from Rs. 4 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh. As the library receives all Indian publications free of cost under the provisions of the Delivery of Books (Public Libraries) Act the book grant is almost entirely spent on foreign publications. The devaluation of the rupee has reduced the effective value of the grant further by about 57 per cent.

20. During the year, the library received 19,857 titles under the provisions of the Delivery of Books Act, 3,456 titles through

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exchange and 9,196 volumes as gift from individuals and institutions. The following are brief details of the important gifts:

(i) A donation of 2,484 volumes from the heirs of late Sir Asutosh Mukhopadhyay. These publications are mostly on Law. Other subjects represented are literature, history, philosophy, religion, philology, science, fine arts, etc. There are also some early printed rare Sanskrit books.

(ii) A gift of one thousand volumes of Russian publications in Russian, English and different Indian languages from the Society of Soviet Union Cultural Relations, Moscow.

(iii) A gift of 600 volumes of the personal collection of late Saurindra Mohan Mukherjee, a noted Bengali writer, by his heirs.

(iv) A gift by Shri B. B. Moonje, son of late Dr. B. S. Moonje of his father's personal collection of newspaper clippings, letters and diaries. These basic documents on modern Indian history have attracted attention of scholars.

21. Processing:

The total number of volumes processed during the period was 43,598. Of these, 28,191 were in European languages and 15,407 in Indian and other Asian languages.

22. Use of the Library:

About 3,11,496 readers visited the Reading Rooms during the period under review and consulted about 98,344 volumes. Besides, a larger number of research scholars visited the, library and 190 scholars enlisted themselves for special facilities in their work.

23. The number of children who visited the Children's Library was 13,195 and they used 36,683 volumes. The Lending Section issued 76,566 volumes to its members for use at home. Besides, the library supplied-microfilm and photostat copies of 11,288 pages to its readers. The Reading Room and Lending Sections enrolled 4,269 and 1,463 new members respectively.

24. Accommodation was arranged for 74 scholars in the Readers' Hostel who come to Calcutta for research work in the library.

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25. Bibliography and Reference Service: The Index to, the Bibliography of Indian Botany, Vol. II (Part III) was completed. The manuscript is now prepared for the press.

26. Material on India for incorporation in Vol. 19 of the Index Translationum was compiled and forwarded to Unesco, Paris, and the number of entries for translations was 842. Material for Vol. 30 is being compiled.

27. The Bibliography Division also worked for the Gandhi Centenary Bibliography. In this connection 2,455 entries by and on Gandhiji were received from various institutions and libraries of the world. Of these, 1,338 items were Indian and the rest foreign. These entries were scrutinized, edited and 1,890 entries were finalised for the Centenary Bibliography.

28. During the year in all 391 bibliographies, consisting of 23,213 entries, were compiled. Of these, 270 bibliographies with 14,208 entries were compiled by the Indian Languages Division and 33 bibliographies containing 4,378 entries by the Bibliography Division and the remaining items were compiled by the Reference Division.

29. The Annexe: The nine-storyed Annexe building was completed. This would house about 1.2 million volumes.

30. Microfilming of Manuscripts: The Unesco-cum-Government of India project for microfilming of rare and valuable manuscripts in Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian started in June, 1966. Unesco has lent the services of an expert and the necessary equipment for the work. The National Library, Calcutta, is responsible for the execution of the project. The Unesco Mobile Microfilming Unit has already visited several centres in different parts of the country and microfilmed a number of old and rare manuscripts. So far 2,28,352 folios of manuscripts have been microfilmed.

31. Exhibitions: During the period under report exhibitions of books and illustrations were organised to mark the Centenary Celebrations of Romain Rolland, Ramananda Chatterjee and Fedor Ippolitovich Shcherbatskoi, a great Russian Indologist. An exhibition of current soviet publications in European and Indian languages was also organised in February. The last exhibition held during the period was a

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display of Bengali books and journals published in, the East Pakistan. Scholars and the general public evinced keen interest in all these exhibitions.

32. Administration and Finance: The Council of the National Library, Calcutta, was reconstituted in October, 1966. It held its meeting in November, 1966.

33. A sum of Rs. 2.60 lakh has been provided for the Plan schemes of the Library during, the current financial year. This amount is being mainly utilised for the important of (i) microfilming, (ii) photostat and (iii) preservation equipment. Besides, the Library proposes to implement two more, schemes, viz., (i) compilation of an inventory of research materials in the libraries of India; (ii) reorganisation of the Library's card catalogue.

CENTRAL REFERENCE LIBRARY, CALCUTTA

34. This Library is concerned with the compilation of the Indian National Bibliography. Eleven volumes of the Bibliography, including the Annual Volume 1963 in Roman script were brought out.

The language fascicules of the Bibliography were published in Gujarati, Malayalam and Kannada.

KHUDA BAKHSH ORIENTA PUBLIC LIBRARY, PATNA

35. The Library is being administered by a Board of Management set up by the State Government of Bihar with the approval of the Government of India. A bill to declare the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna, as an institution of national importance, which was introduced in Parliament on 16th August, 1965 has lapsed. It will again be introduced in Parliament at the earliest opportunity.

36. A grant of Rs. 88,000 has been paid for additions and alterations to the building of the Library.

CENTRAL LIBRARY, TOWN HALL, BOMBAY

37. The Library receives one copy of each book or newspaper published in India under the Delivery of Books and Newspapers (Public Libraries) Act., 1954. The recommendations of an ad hoc committee, which examined financial and other needs

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of the Library for the fourth Plan, have been examined by the Government of Maharashtra. The request of the State Government that the pattern of Central assistance adopted during the third Plan period should continue during fourth Plan period also, is under consideration.

CONNEMARA PUBLIC LIBRARY, MADRAS

38. The Library receives one copy of each book or newspaper published in India under the Delivery of Books and Newspapers (Public Libraries) Act, 1954. The Library was found to be short of space and the Government of India approved a scheme of the State Government for the construction of the additional building at a cost of Rs. 9,39,000 and agreed to share 2/3rd of the expenditure. A sum of Rs. 1,00,000 was paid during 1966-67 and the construction of the building is in progress.

DELHI PUBLIC LIBRARY, DELHI

39. The registered membership of the Library increased from 1,36,710 to 1,37,165 and the stock of books from 3,23,979 to 3,65,255. During 1966-67, about 17,91,000 books were lent to the registered borrowers for home reading. The average daily turn-over of books continued to be about 16,000.

40. Expansion: A plot of land in Sarojini Nagar has been purchased for a Branch Library and efforts are being made to acquire another plot in Ramakrishnapuram for the same purpose. During 1966- 67, one Deposit Station at village Tikri Kalan and one mobile Library Station for International Communications Centre were added. The scope of service of some of the existing units was also extended during this period.

41. Service to the blind was strengthened with the addition of talking pictures in July, 1966. Under this scheme the books are recorded on a tape and run through a specially designed tape-recorder.

42. The Braille Transcription Unit of the Library started functioning in April, 1966, and up to February 29, 1967, 156 titles of outstanding books comprising 136 volumes were transcribed. The progress would have been even more rapid if the suitable paper were available in the market.

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43. During this period more than 19,000 adults and 8,000 children participated in cultural activities organised by the. Library, such as film shows, television viewings, lectures, dis- cussions, dramas, etc.

CENTRAL SECRETARIAT LIBRARY, NEW DELHI

44. During the year under report the library continued to fulfil its objectives, viz., (i) to cater' to the official needs of the Government of India, their ministries/departments, attached and subordinate offices in Delhi; (ii) to provide general and recreational reading material to all employees of the Government of India.

45. Due to devaluation of the rupee the accession of new reading material was somewhat affected. However, progress was maintained in the various services of the, Library. During the year under report, 3,800 books, 9,012 documents (including pamphlets) and 997 periodicals were accessioned.

46. Nearly 40 bibliographies on several topics were compiled. The Library continues to bring out publications, namely, Indian Education Abstracts' and 'Current Educational Literature'.

D. FINANCIAL PROVISIONS 

                                          

 
        
        Sl.                                      Provision for 1966-67    Provision for
        No.            Scheme                   ----------------------          1967-68
                                                Original       Revised
        
                                                     Rs.           Rs.           Rs.
        
                                               

         
        1                   2                        3              4             5
                                               

        
        1 Production of literature for
             neo-literates
                       (PLAN)                    1,35,000        86,000       1,36,000
                       (NON-PLAN)                  80,000        79,000         43,000
             
        2 Assistance to voluntary orga-
             nisations for the production
             of literature for neo-literates         --            --           25,000
        
        3 Sahitya Shivirs for training
             authors in the technique of
             writing books for neo-litera-
             tes                                   25,500        25,500         25,500

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        1              2                             3              4              5
        
                                               

        
        4 National Book Trust
             (PLAN)                              5,00,000       5,00,000      5,00,000
             (NON-PLAN)                          2,04,000       2,04,000      2,30,000
        
        5 National Library, Calcutta
             (PLAN)                              2,60,000       2,29,800      5,46,000
             (NON-PLAN)                         20,26,000      20,30,100     22,88,000
        
        6 Central  Reference Library,
             Calcutta
             (PLAN)                              2,68,000       2,68,400      2,78,000
        
        7 Connemara Public Library,
             Madras
             (PLAN)                              3,00,000       1,00,000      2,00,000
        
        8 Central Library, Bombay
             (PLAN)                              3,00,000          1,000      1,00,000
        
        9 Delhi Public Library,Delhi
             (PLAN)                              6,00,000       6,00,000      8,05,000
             (NON-PLAN)                          5,00,000       5,17,000      5,22,000
        
        10 Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public
             Library, Patna
             (NON-PLAN)                          1,28,000       1,28,000        98,000
        
        11 Grants to public libraries            2,25,000       2,25,000      2,25,000