Lok Sabha Question No. 2069 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-13
Subject: Establishment of National Digital Library/ E-Library System
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Sukanta Majumdar, Raksha Nikhil Khadse, Jayanta Kumar Roy, Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo, Rajveer (Raju Bhaiya) Singh, Vinod Kumar Sonkar, Raja Amareshwara Naik

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2069 ANSWERED ON 13/03/2023

## Establishment of National Digital Library/ E-Library System

2069. DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR:

SHRIMATI RAKSHA NIKHIL KHADSE:

DR. JAYANTA KUMAR ROY:

SHRIMATI SANGEETA KUMARI SINGH DEO:

SHRI RAJVEER SINGH (RAJU BHAIYA):

SHRI VINOD KUMAR SONKAR:

SHRI RAJA AMARESHWARA NAIK:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has proposed to establish National Digital Library for children and adolescents, if so, the details thereof and also the objectives of setting up of such library;
- (b)  the  details  of  quality  of  books  available  on  Geography,  Languages,  Genres  and  Levels  and Agnostic accessibility in the country;
- (c) whether the Government is also proposing to implementing e-library System at the State level to raise the level of education in the country, if so, the details thereof and the number of States who have started e-Library;
- (d) if not, the time by when the Government will implement this;
- (e)  whether  the  Government  encourage  the  States  to  set  up  physical  libraries  at  Panchayat  and Ward levels, if so the details thereof; and
- (f) the steps being taken by the Government for promotion of reading habits and to cover up the learning loss among childern caused by the pandemic?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SMT ANNPURNA DEVI)

(a) to (f): Union  Budget  2023-24  in  its  para  33  and  34  has  mentioned  the  setting  up  of National Digital library and promoting reading across the digital and physical mode for children and adolescents. Budget Speech (2023-24) of Hon'ble Finance Minister is available on the link given below: https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/doc/budget\_speech.pdf

The  primary  objective  of  the  proposed  paras  33  and  34  is  to  generate  curiosity  and motivation for learning among  students  at all levels and make  available enjoyable and inspirational books for holistic development. The aim of setting up of National digital library is to facilitate availability of quality books across geographies, languages, genres and levels, and device agnostic accessibility.

VidyaDaan platform of Ministry of Education is a platform for content sourcing that has been  developed  and  designed  for  scale  to  create  a  warehouse  of  crowd  sourced  content  from various sources after following a structured approach as per defined taxonomy (Board, medium, grade, subject, learning outcome etc.) and can be leveraged by Centre and States/UTs for various programs (https://diksha.gov.in/vidyadaan/).  The  curation  committee  scrutinizes  the  content  and approved content is uploaded on DIKSHA. DIKSHA (https://diksha.gov.in/) an initiative of the Ministry  of  Education  for  digital  online  education,  has  QR  coded  textbooks  and  various specialized e-Contents for classes 1-12 and teachers in 33 Indian languages.

Guidelines  on  Reading  Campaign  (A  nationwide  initiative  for  creating  a  joyful  reading experience for children) has been issued, which is available on the given link: https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload\_files/mhrd/files/Guidelines\_on\_Reading\_Campaign.pdf

The library grant component was introduced under Samagra Shiksha, in the year 2018-19. Guidelines  for  Library  Grant  and  promoting  reading  in  Schools  for  Building  an  inclusive  and joyful reading culture has been issued, which is available on the given link: https://samagra.education.gov.in/docs/revised\_guidelines\_for\_promotion\_Library\_Reading%20.pdf

Ministry of Education conducted a survey related to online teaching learning  during the pandemic;  based  on  the  survey  and  findings  Learning  Enhancement  guidelines  for  continuous which  focus  on  students  with/without  digital  devices.  The  guidelines  may  be  accessed  at  the following links: https://www.mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload\_files/mhrd/files/Learning\_Enhancement\_0.pdf

*************