(b) To cultivate in the youth desirable attitudes towards manual labour. In the schemes for Labour and Social Service Camps young men and women participate in constructive works of community benefit. In the scheme for Campus Work Projects they contribute their voluntary manual labour for building up assets for the institutions to which they belong.

(d) Development of leadership qualities and creative talent.

(e) Promoting habits of outdoor activities in the youth through youth clubs, youth hostels and holiday camps.

Development and Propagation of Hindi and Sanskrit

It is well known that the Constitution has laid it down as the duty of the Union to develop and enrich the Hindi language as 'also to promote its spread. The work pertaining to Hindi is, therefore, to be carried on in the Third Five-Year Plan period in all these three aspects. In the meantime, an Official Language Commission had been appointed and its recommendations were later considered by the Committee of Parliament on Official Language which submitted its report to the President. The President subsequently issued a directive in this behalf and the work will now be carried out in accordance with the Directive of the President.

For the development of Hindi the major activity is that review, evolution and coordination of scientific terminology pertaining to science and technology on the one hand, and the humanities, social sciences and administration on the other. The Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology is being established to carry out the work pertaining to scientific and technical terminology. Similarly a Review and Coordination Committee is being set up for work pertaining to non-scientific terminology. The core of this effort would be to standardise all terminology and its publication in the form of technical and general dictionaries. Besides this, allied projects connected with the development of Hindi such as preparation of thesaurus, books of usage and books pertaining to grammar, etc. would be taken up.

At the same time activities pertaining to its enrichment will also be continued, chief of which would be production of literature to bring the terminology evolved into actual use. These activities will have several aspects such as preparation and translation of standard works and textbooks, preparation of encyclopaedias pertaining to various subjects and translation of manuals and other official literature.

It is also proposed to take up production of popular literature on diverse topics of current interest. The scheme may be, taken up in cooperation with the publishers and other suitable agencies.

Propagation of Hindi will be pursued vigorously during the Third Five-Year Plan period. The agencies engaged in this work will be suitably assisted and utilised. Ancillary activities in this field would be establishment of Hindi teachers' training colleges, award of scholarships, arrangement of lecture tours and seminars, preparation and publication of polyglot readers, etc.

The programme pertaining to promotion of Sanskrit in all its aspects will be undertaken in the light of the recommendations made by the Sanskrit Commission. Following the recommendations of the Commission, the Central Sanskrit Board has already been set up to advise Government on various aspects pertaining to the propagation of Sanskrit and several other recommendations of the Commission are being taken up for implementation including the one for the establishment of a Central Sanskrit Institute.

Scholarships

The scholarships schemes at present in force will continue to be operated and borne on the normal budget. The schemes included in the Third Five-Year Plan in the Central sector are those which involve either an expansion of an existing scheme or the undertaking of a new one.

The main project is the National Scholarships scheme which is aimed at providing special assistance to gifted students so that they may have the opportunities that their abilities require for full development. It arises from the concept that outstanding ability is a national asset and should be promoted as such. It would have been desirable to select students of outstanding merit at different age- levels but since this may not be feasible at this stage owing to limitation of resources it is proposed that, to begin with, the selection should take place at the post-matric stage. For prematric age-groups- the existing scheme for awarding scholarships for educa- tion in residential schools would be expanded to serve as a supporting programme. The National Scholarships scheme is not only designed for giving financial assistance but also for providing special guidance to the national scholars and Organisation of vacation and other courses for them so that their all-round development may be facilitated.

Social Education

In the Third Five-Year Plan, the important schemes initiated in the Second Five-Year Plan will be continued. Besides, projects of demonstrational value in the field of social education will be initiated.

In the continuing schemes, there are two types: the training schemes and the scheme for assistance to voluntary educational organisations. In the training schemes, only the key personnel in the field of social education are being trained through the National Fundamental Education Centre and librarians in the new field of public libraries and other special libraries through the Institute of Library Science, Delhi University.

The Report of the Advisory Committee for Libraries had recommended initiating a 25-year plan for the development of libraries from the Third Five-Year Plan. Unfortunately enough money for doing this in the Third Plan is not available. It is, therefore, considered desirable to have a demonstration project in Delhi. The Delhi Public Library being already there, it is proposed to make this a central library around which will be developed a system of branch and mobile libraries serving different parts of the city.

A Workers' Social Education Institute at Indore has been set up during the Second Five-Year Plan. This is a pilot project in the field of workers' education and will be continued in the Third Plan.

There is also need for providing opportunities for exchange of experience and ideas between the social education workers and also the librarians in the country. Provision is being made to start this work in the Third Five-Year Plan.

Audio-Visual Education

Audio-visual aids form an important aspect of education which is not yet well organised in India. To develop this field the Ministry of Education set up in March, 1959 the National Institute of Audio- Visual Education. The Institute has started short-term training courses for teachers in audio-visual education. It has also undertaken production of non-projected aids on a small scale. The Institute will be further developed during the Third Plan as a part of the National Institute of Education so as to function as a full- fledged training, production and research centre and also serve as a clearing house for information on audio-visual education.

Education of the Handicapped

The primary purpose of the schemes for the education and welfare of the handicapped included in the Third Plan is to make a beginning with the development of a comprehensive system of services for the physically and mentally handicapped. Although persons suffering from a variety of physical and mental limitations need special services, an attempt has been made initially to develop services for the blind, the deaf, the orthopaedically and mentally handicapped.

Educational institutions for the handicapped have existed in this country for nearly 70 years, but these institutions have, to a very large extent, failed to provide training in the light of employment opportunities and till recently no concerted effort was made to place trained handicapped persons in suitable occupations. The main emphasis during the Third Plan period is on developing institutions which would provide education and training which could eventually culminate in remunerative employment and the complete integration of the handicapped into the normal community. With this end in view, the Model School for Blind Children, the Women's Section of the Training Centre for the Adult Blind, the Central Braille Press and the Workshop for the Manufacture of Braille Appliances; at Dehra Dun-are to be expanded. The establishment of a School for Mentally Deficient Children, a Training Centre for the Adult Deaf and a National Braille Library are also envisaged.

Considerable emphasis will be laid on the provision of employment opportunities. For this purpose it is proposed to have, at least, one Special Employment Office for the Physically Handicapped in each State and the Union Territory of Delhi by the end of the Third Plan. The main function of this office will be to attempt to place blind, deaf and orthopaedically handicapped persons in suitable occupations.

Evaluation and Research Programmes

The need has made itself felt more and more pressingly to have an Organisation which will carry out continuous appraisal of various educational programmes. For this purpose it is proposed to have a Central Unit in the Ministry which will, in association with the representatives of the State Governments and eminent non-official educators, develop scientific and objective techniques of assessment and undertake appraisal of the various educational programmes. For appraisal of State schemes it is proposed that each State Government should set up a State Unit with appropriate staff which would carry on the assessment programme and also undertake special research studies.

A brief description of the various schemes included in the Union Education Ministry's Plan follows.

Central and Centrally Spansored Schemes Included in the Third Five- Year Plan

A. ELEMENTARY AND BASIC EDUCATION

(a) CENTRAL SCHEMES

1. National Institute of Basic Education

The National Institute of Basic Education was set up in February 1956 under the First Five-Year Plan to:

(i) conduct research in problems of Basic education at the national level;

(ii) act as a clearing house for all information concerning Basic education;

(iii) impart advanced training to inspectors, administrators and other higher level personnel in the field of Basic education; and

(iv) publish Basic education literature.

The Institute has been continued during the Second Plan. By the end of 1960-61, the Institute would have completed 13 research projects and published a number of pamphlets including the Buniyadi Talim, a quarterly magazine devoted to Basic education. During the last two years, it has also organised four training programmes for the field personnel. During the Third Plan the normal activities of the Institute will be continued. A provision of Rs. 3 lakhs for developmental expenditure on further projects of research, production of guide books, establishment of a psycho-metric unit and experiments in crafts has been made in the Plan. In addition, a sum of Rs. 7 lakhs is required for the construction of a new building for the Institute. No total provision for the scheme is, therefore, Rs. 10 lakhs.

2. Production of Literature for Children

The scheme consists of the following sub-schemes:

(i) Annual Competitions for Children's books;

(ii) Production of Children's Books on All-India Basis;

(iii) Organisation of Sahitya Rachanalayas;

(iv) Assistance to Voluntary Organisations for Production of Literature for Children.

A brief description of each of these schemes is given below:

(i) ANNUAL COMPETITIONS FOR CHILDREN'S BOOKS

The Ministry of Education is organising annual competitions for children's literature since 1954, under which a number of prizes are awarded to best books in all the Indian languages. This has stimulated the efforts to produce children's books to a considerable extent and has helped in developing reading tastes among children. The scheme also enabled the Government of India to purchase 2,000 copies of the prize-winning books for free distribution to school libraries, children's centres, etc.

The scheme will be continued during the Third Plan. Thirty prizes15 of Rs. 1,000 each and 15 of Rs. 500 each-will be awarded annually. Two thousand copies of each of the prize-winning books will also be purchased.

A provision of Rs. 5 lakhs has been made for the scheme.

(ii) PRODUCTION OF CHILDREN'S BOOKS ON ALL-INDIA BASIS

The main difficulty in producing good books for children in India is that the total number of copies sold is very limited. A good children's book containing beautiful pictures can be prepared economically only if a minimum of 50,000 copies are sold. The price would become reasonable only when more than one lakh copies are sold. But in several Indian languages, the copies sold are very few-two to five thousand-and in no language are more than 25,000 copies sold. The only way to overcome this difficulty, is to prepare children's books in such a way that the pictorial part of it can be printed for 50,000 or even a lakh of copies. The

language part of it will then be superimposed separately for each language If this can be done, the price of the books could be brought down.

The physical target for the Third Five-Year Plan is ten books or two books each year. The total cost of the scheme would be Rs. 5 lakhs.

(iii) ORGANISATION OF SAHITYA RACHANALAYAS

During the Second Five-Year Plan, a scheme for organising Sahitya Rachanalayas was implemented. The object of a Sahitya Rachanalaya is to bring together authors, writers and publishers interested in producing books for children and to help them to prepare and produce better books. The scheme has been working very satisfactorily and it is proposed to continue it during the Third Five-Year Plan.

In all 30 Rachanalayas (six every year) will be organised. A provision of Rs. 3 lakhs has been made, for this purpose.

(iv) ASSISTANCE TO VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF LITERATURE

During the Second Plan period, proposals have been received from the individuals and voluntary organisations for assistance for production of worthwhile literature for children. A provision of Rs. 2 lakhs has, accordingly, been made in the Third Plan for assisting such organisations in this work. Assistance will be given at 50 per cent of the cost of production or Rs. 5000 per publication whichever is less. The physical target for the Third Five-Year Plan is production of 40 books (eight books annually).

The total provision for all the schemes is Rs. 15 lakhs.

3. Assistance to Voluntary Organisations

Under the First Five-Year Plan, the Ministry had initiated a scheme of giving grants to voluntary educational organisations working in the field of pre-primary and Basic education. The scheme is continuing in the Second Plan. It is expected that during this period grants totalling Rs. 19 lakhs would have been paid to about 70 institutions.

A new scheme was also initiated in the Second Plan for giving grants to voluntary organisations/State Governments for the establishment/improvement of post-Basic schools to enable the students passing out of senior Basic schools to continue their secondary education along Basic lines. By the end of the Second Plan seven institutions would have received grants totalling Rs. 3 lakhs under the scheme.

Since the pattern of financial assistance under the two schemes is the same, a single scheme has been included in the Third Plan with a total provision of Rs. 25 lakhs.

4. Seminars and Special Training Programmes

SEMINARS

In connection with the implementation of the programme of free and compulsory primary education, a large number of practical problems concerning planning, publicity, teacher training, etc., will invariably arise. These problems can be best solved by seminars which will provide the necessary forum for exchange of ideas and experiences. It is also envisaged that during the Third Five-Year Plan research work, educational experiments and evaluation of development programmes will be undertaken on an adequate scale throughout the country. Participation of persons in

charge of such work in the proposed seminars will be to the advantage of all concerned.

In all 25 seminars (five annually) will be organised. The estimated cost of the scheme works out at Rs. 2.5 lakhs.

SPECIAL TRAINING PROGRAMMES

During the First and Second Five-Year Plans, the State Governments have planned and given effect to a large number of development programmes in different sectors of education. In course of these processes they had to face numerous problems of planning, Organisation and implementation and had to evolve solutions for them as best as they could, but the significant experience of each State in all these matters was not sufficiently known to the other States grappling with similar difficulties and problems. It is essential that this significant information should be made available to the persons dealing with these problems in different States. Very often educational officers in one State are quite ignorant about the administrative practices of the other States in India. The object of this scheme is to advance this cause by encouraging the visits of important officials in the States to one another.