India lives in villages and village readers are deprived of libraries

Vijay Garg
 The pride and progress of any nation, society, community and caste depends on its intellectual development.  One hundred percent literate country is a developed country.  Literacy and intellectual development is the dream of every nation.  Libraries have played a vital role in the development of society and the nation and books have been considered as man's best friend.  Even abroad, human beings have the most important books.  Books with good literature develop the reader in all respects.  Literature is considered a mirror of society and good literature is found through books.  Today's youth are entangled in the web of the Internet and have become indifferent to libraries.  Today, it is unfortunate for our country that even after 70 years of independence, the common man in the country is deprived of libraries.  This means that the common man does not have access to libraries but where there are libraries, their condition is pitiable.
 Knowledge of the internet can be trivial and false compared to book knowledge and it can contain misinformation.  Neither the central nor the state governments are so sensitive and serious about libraries.  The town planning plan gives priority to schools, hospitals, community centers and markets, but ignores the library plan.
 Modern architects include malls, metros, railways, air-conditioned shopping centers in the plan but deprive the readers of library facilities.  Even in metros, the condition of libraries is not satisfactory and in small towns, it is rare to find libraries.  India lives in villages and rural readers are deprived of libraries.  Libraries in the national capital have very old books and manuscripts but they are not being maintained properly.  There are libraries in different states of the country but they are not being maintained.  If libraries are not saved, our heritage will disappear.
 Various libraries in the country are severely understaffed and no effort is being made to fill the vacancies.  The condition of libraries in Punjab is also not good.  There is a shortage of teachers in the educational institutions as well as in the libraries.  Every year students graduate in Library Science, M.Sc.  Phil, p.  H.  D.  But they are frustrated and anxious because they have to work in private institutions for "very low pay".  Thus, the degrees he obtained in library science are of no use.
 Mr. S.  R.  Rangarajan has been called the father of library science.  He has been instrumental in making libraries a part of the syllabus since independence and said that every book is for reading, which should be available to every reader but the tragedy is that neither books are available in libraries.  Nor has the readership been interested in reading books.  Libraries will only exist if there are readers.  Where there are libraries, there is no readership.
 The library is considered to be the pride of every educational institution but today's man has become attracted towards smartphones and other gadgets, due to which the number of readers of books has come down drastically.
 Today, even lawyers, doctors, teachers, and intellectuals prefer to seek information online.  Bookish knowledge is always permanent and enhances general knowledge.  After all, there are private libraries in the offices and homes of lawyers, judges and prominent people in the society, but they are just a show.
 Library expert P.  Also.  Mangala argues that our country and society is moving towards a "paperless society" but "paper" cannot disappear from "our lives" so quickly.  Books will remain, even if they change shape.  Nowadays people are buying and reading books online.  It is also true that books will take on electronic form in the coming years.
 It is important to preserve the existence of libraries in order to maintain the tradition of reading in society.  "E-books" should also be made available to attract readers to libraries.  The library is not just a house of books, newspapers, texts but a living "school".
 Today the teaching class was all that was needed.  B.  S.  E.  And the State Board should develop the habit of reading in the students of schools and colleges, encourage and motivate them.  The Central and State Governments in collaboration with social organizations will have to revive libraries in schools, colleges, universities and clubs.