Gandhinagar (Gujarat) [India], September 5 (ANI): Keeping in mind the importance of reading books, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat and Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ‘Vanche Gujarat’ campaign for the citizens of Gujarat. During his tenure, he planned to enrich all the libraries of Gujarat with scriptures.
Moving in the same direction, under the leadership of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, a historic decision has recently been taken to start government libraries in 50 talukas of 21 districts of the state.
It is worth mentioning that every year September 6 is celebrated as ‘National Read a Book Day’ i.e. ‘National Book Reading Day’. The aim of this day is to celebrate the joy of reading, and also to encourage people to take interest in the activity of reading.
Libraries are also planned in all the tribal taluks of the state with the aim of awakening the interest in reading among the people of the tribal communities living in the tribal areas of the state and motivating them to read. Under this, permission has been given to start libraries in 14 talukas of 7 tribal districts of the state. As a result, all tribal communities in every tribal taluka of Gujarat will get 100 percent benefit of reading service.
The Gujarat government has also thought about starting libraries in rural areas of Gujarat. Under the guidance of Chief Minister Shri Bhupendra Patel, the state government has planned to start more and more subsidised libraries in the state this year so that the reading-loving citizens of the society can easily get the facilities of public libraries. It has been decided to start a government taluka library. It is worth mentioning that this decision to allow such a large number of libraries in one year is historic since the establishment of the state till date.
A policy on accreditation and grants-in-aid for public libraries has been laid down for the establishment and development of public libraries throughout the state with the objective of inculcating interest in reading and spreading knowledge among the people through books, periodicals, articles and pictorial teaching aids.
Grant-in-aid from the State Government has been allowed to increase grant-in-aid on 100 per cent basis by exempting the grant-aided libraries from Lokphala from the year 2023-24. That is, 100 percent grant will be made available by the state government, exempting the libraries from the 25 per cent public contribution they had to pay earlier. Apart from this, the State Government has also allowed to increase the rates of grant based on the type of libraries, such as special libraries, city libraries, women and children libraries, village libraries, etc. It is planned to start more and more grant-aided libraries in the state.
The Government of Gujarat has also increased the award amount to the winning libraries and the librarians of the winning libraries in the scheme for Shree Motibhai Amin Granthalaya Seva Award and Uttam Granthalaya Seva Certificate. The scheme has also added categories of expert libraries and special libraries, which will maintain a competitive environment in providing library services among state-aided libraries. (ANI)
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