Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has found an ingenious way to promote literacy and his government’s achievements — public libraries and reading rooms. As part of his government’s literacy schemes, Gehlot on Thursday inaugurated a Mahatma Gandhi public library and reading room in Dausa. It was one among the 173 libraries that opened across the state today. Gehlot’s aim is to provide ‘‘neo-literates and other educated people a platform to learn and grow’’. And it is also to flood people with the government’s achievements in various fields. Sharing space with children’s books and newspapers are development reports highlighting the Gehlot government’s work in different areas, especially education. Tonk District Literacy Mission secretary Ramesh Chand Jain defends the choice of publications. He says: ‘‘These are not just libraries, they are in fact panchayat-level information centres. Villagers will get all kinds of government-related information, besides books and newspapers.’’ Not exactly what Ram Gopal Choudhary was looking for. Choudhary is 60 and thinks it is time for him to read the Mahabharata, Gita and Ramayana. The wizened farmer potters around the library in Baroni, waiting for its inauguration by the illiterate sarpanch so that he can check out the books. As Rajasthan Literacy Mission officials arrange books in the panchayat office, Choudhary pesters them with questions. ‘‘What kind of books are you going to stock, can I take them home, how many newspapers will you subscribe?’’ he quizzes them. Across Rajasthan’s 173 panchayat headquarters, curious onlookers like Choudhary were asking similar questions as they witnessed the inauguration of Gehlot’s project. This time the ‘‘mission’’ is to ensure that 9,184 village panchayats get their own library and reading room by December 2003. While Gehlot drove to Dausa and inaugurated a well-stocked library at a well-attended function, it was a low-key affair in Baroni. The illiterate sarpanch, Manbhar Devi, sat patiently for the 80-odd books to be arranged in her office. A few km away in Sohaila village, things were better. Minister in-charge of the area Govind Singh Gujjar was the chief guest and the district administration had gathered in the senior secondary school to make sure the library got the attention it needed. According to Census 2001, 52.39 per cent of Tonk’s population in the 15-35 age group is literate. District figures say there are only 96 children who are out of school in the area and 219 literate adults (between 15 and 35). For the literate population, the library is well-stocked. Besides propaganda material, there are children’s books, fat books on nuclear science, the human body, environment, and Hindi versions of ‘Tell Me Whys’. After urging people to read and make use of the libraries, Gehlot talked about the tremendous strides Rajasthan had made in education and how the libraries were, in some ways, a culmination of his promises four years ago. Saying the project was inspired by the values of Mahatma Gandhi, Gehlot added that any such scheme should be run by the government for five years and then taken over by panchayats. Gehlot then spoke about the drought and how well his government had tackled it. Meanwhile in Baroni, Choudhary waited for the ‘‘real books’’ to arrive.
