One Nation, One Digital Library: India sets its eyes on libraries of the future

Arjun Ram Meghwal (centre), Union Minister of State for Law and Justice (Independent Charge), Parliamentary Affairs and Culture, unveiled the Festival of Libraries programme at the National Museum in New Delhi on July 19. (Photo: Faizal Khan)

When the princely state of Rampur was founded in the 18th century after a truce between the nawabs of Oudh and Rampur, one of the first acts of its new ruler was to set up a library. The Rampur Raza Library was built by the new nawab, Faizullah Khan, in 1774. Located nearly 200km from Delhi in Uttar Pradesh, Rampur was the destination for poets, musicians and calligraphers who found support in the local rulers. Faizullah Khan also ensured a steady flow of manuscripts to the new library from such faraway places as Persia and Turkey.

A century later, Rampur under the nawab's patronage would witness Jashn-e-Benazir, which in Urdu means the incomparable festival, which drew artists, performers and gender-crossers from Lucknow and Kolkata and had a gathering that included ordinary workers and members of lower castes along with artists and performers as described in the Rekhti poetry of those times.

President Droupadi Murmu will inaugurate the first-ever Festival of Libraries that will celebrate iconic libraries like the 250-year-old Rampur Raza Library in Uttar Pradesh. (Photo: Rampur Raza Library)

Another festival, this time a Festival of Libraries in the national capital early next month, will have Rampur at the centre of celebrations. The first Festival of Libraries organised by the central government's Ministry of Culture at the Pragati Maidan during August 5-6 will mark the 250th anniversary of the Rampur Raza Library, which has over 17,000 manuscripts in Persian, Pashto, Arabic, Sanskrit, Urdu, Turkish and Hindi. The event will also kick off a modernisation drive of the Rampur library and the Delhi Public Library.

The Festival of Libraries will also witness the signing of a tripartite agreement between three iconic libraries in the country — Rampur Raza Library, Khuda Baksh Oriental Public Library, Patna, another treasure trove of precious Arabic-Persian manuscripts, and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Arabic Persian Institute, Tonk in Rajasthan to collaborate in research. Another highlight of the event, which will be inaugurated by President Droupadi Murmu, is the launch of a 42-question survey to set up a new crowdsourced directory of public libraries across the country.

"The development of libraries is a priority for the government," said Arjun Ram Meghwal, Union Minister of State for Law and Justice (Independent Charge), Parliamentary Affairs and Culture, at the unveiling of the Festival of Libraries programme at the National Museum on July 19. "Our country has a long tradition of reading and learning," he added. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a national digital library for children and adolescents in the Union Budget this year.

The Ministry of Culture's plan is in tune with the human-centric development goal of the government for India to gain the status of a developed country by 2047 on the centenary of independence. One of its elements is One Nation, One Digital Library. The Festival of Libraries was an idea suggested by delegates at the International Museum Expo inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May this year. The government was quick to recognise the organic link between museums and libraries. "There is a deep connection between libraries and museums and there is also a need to have an appropriate mix of  physical and digital libraries," said Govind Mohan, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, on the occasion of the unveiling of the Festival of Libraries. While library is a state subject, a handful of libraries across the country, including the Rampur library, Khuda Baksh library and the Tonk library are centrally-funded under an Act of Parliament.

In February 2014, the UPA government had launched a National Mission on Libraries as an initiative of the Ministry of Culture to modernise and digitally link public libraries across the country following a recommendation of the National Knowledge Commission. The National Mission on Libraries, currently functioning from the office of the Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation, Kolkata -- nodal office for funding public libraries under the Union Ministry of Culture -- had identified creation of a National Virtual Library of India as one of its major schemes.

The tripartite agreement to be signed by Rampur library, Khuda Baksh library and Tonk library during the festival will position them as a Golden Triangle for libraries much like the Golden Triangle of tourism (Delhi, Agra, Jaipur). "The three share linguistic and cultural affinities to mimic the Golden Triangle of tourism," said Mugdha Sinha, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture. "There are thousands of manuscripts lying unexplored in our library. The tripartite agreement will promote research as well as translating these manuscripts. Fellowships will be created," Shayesta Bedar, Director, Khuda Baksh library, told Moneycontrol from Patna.

Khuda Baksh Oriental Public Library, Patna, built in 1891, is a treasure trove of precious Arabic and Persian manuscripts. (Photo: Khuda Baksh Library)

All the three libraries housing rare manuscripts are regularly visited by scholars from both home and abroad. During his visit to Iran in 2016, Prime Minister Modi had gifted Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei a specially commissioned reproduction of a rare 7th century manuscript of the Holy Quran, a prized possession of the Rampur library.

The packed Festival of Libraries programme has a session of librarians from G20 and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member-countries, author sessions, panel discussions on best practices in library management and bookshops as community  spaces, children's zone, exhibitions on cartography, cursive writing, calligraphy and tribal fonts,  and a panel discussion with heads of literary festivals in the country. "It's time to bring back literary festivals from hotels to libraries," said Sinha.

Organised ahead of the National Librarians' Day on August 12 as part of the second phase of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, the festival will assemble government officials who have led community library movements in the country. Among the participants will be Karnataka's Panchayati Raj Principal Secretary Uma Mahadevan Dasgupta who spearheaded a movement that succeeded in enrolling 1.8 million children as members of rural libraries in the state and Jharkhand's Jamtara district collector Faiz Aq Ahmed Mumtaz who helped set up community libraries in all 118 panchayats in the district.

Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar will be the chief guest at the closing ceremony of the festival on August 6.