News Analysis India

Tag: library

  • Nainital’s Ghoda Library: Changing lives in remote areas

    Express News Service

    DEHRADUN: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned Nainital’s ‘Ghoda Library’ in the 105th episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat’ series on Sunday, its innovator Shubham Badhani has decided to expand his unique education campaign so that people in rural areas and children deprived of innovative information in remote rural areas can take full advantage of it.

    Speaking to this daily right after the completion of the Mann Ki Baat programme on TV, Shubham, overwhelmed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s encouraging words, said, “The idea of opening this mobile “Ghoda library” came to our mind given the adverse geographical conditions and difficult connectivity routes of the state”.  

    “Horses, which can work smoothly in these difficult areas, we have used them for this purpose,” Shubham added.

    “Diwan Singh Rawat, a farmer from Jalna village, has given us his horse after being impressed by this campaign for this ‘Mobile horse library’ that started on June 12 this year,” said Badhani, adding, “When the news of this ‘Ghoda library’ experiment spread to nearby villages, we got an overwhelming response, as a result of which today we have 10 horses provided by various volunteers from different villages.

    Badhani said, “Since the library is mobile, at one round we issue books to the children and on the next round we take back the old books after a week and re-issue the new books.”  

    “So far the entire network of ‘horse libraries’ has been built in villages like Bagni, Jalna, Gountiya, Dhinwa-khadak, Mahatgaon, Dola, Mahal dhura, Kalsee and Talla Jalna”.

    “People in urban areas anyway had easy access to information through TV and huge libraries or workshops and instructors to enhance their knowledge, but, for rural children, getting their hands on a random book somewhere, would open a new window to the world outside their small locality,” Shubham believes. 

    Expressing concern over the education of children in Uttarakhand, Shubham said, “The biggest concern is that there are still hundreds of remote villages which are not connected to the internet or social media. There are still millions of children who are eager to learn about the outside world and getting a chance to read the book is like a dream come true.”

    DEHRADUN: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned Nainital’s ‘Ghoda Library’ in the 105th episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat’ series on Sunday, its innovator Shubham Badhani has decided to expand his unique education campaign so that people in rural areas and children deprived of innovative information in remote rural areas can take full advantage of it.

    Speaking to this daily right after the completion of the Mann Ki Baat programme on TV, Shubham, overwhelmed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s encouraging words, said, “The idea of opening this mobile “Ghoda library” came to our mind given the adverse geographical conditions and difficult connectivity routes of the state”.  

    “Horses, which can work smoothly in these difficult areas, we have used them for this purpose,” Shubham added.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “Diwan Singh Rawat, a farmer from Jalna village, has given us his horse after being impressed by this campaign for this ‘Mobile horse library’ that started on June 12 this year,” said Badhani, adding, “When the news of this ‘Ghoda library’ experiment spread to nearby villages, we got an overwhelming response, as a result of which today we have 10 horses provided by various volunteers from different villages.

    Badhani said, “Since the library is mobile, at one round we issue books to the children and on the next round we take back the old books after a week and re-issue the new books.”  

    “So far the entire network of ‘horse libraries’ has been built in villages like Bagni, Jalna, Gountiya, Dhinwa-khadak, Mahatgaon, Dola, Mahal dhura, Kalsee and Talla Jalna”.

    “People in urban areas anyway had easy access to information through TV and huge libraries or workshops and instructors to enhance their knowledge, but, for rural children, getting their hands on a random book somewhere, would open a new window to the world outside their small locality,” Shubham believes. 

    Expressing concern over the education of children in Uttarakhand, Shubham said, “The biggest concern is that there are still hundreds of remote villages which are not connected to the internet or social media. There are still millions of children who are eager to learn about the outside world and getting a chance to read the book is like a dream come true.”

  • Maharashtra floods damage prized collection at 156-year-old library

    Express News Service
    MUMBAI:  A 156-year-old library in Maharashtra’s Chiplun town has seen many of its prized collections of books, historical documents, and artifacts covered in mud after the recent floods. Chiplun, in the state’s Ratnagiri district, received very heavy rainfall of about 200 mm in the 24 hours since Saturday evening. The town has been receiving heavy rainfall over the past few days. 

    “There was floodwater up to 12 ft in our building. Old and rare books and documents were floating around in the floodwater. Many artifacts from the medieval and Satvan dynasty period have been damaged. The floodwater remained in the building for four days,” Prakash Deshpande, the working president of the Lokmanya Library and Museum said.   

    The library housed a rare collection of books, including some that were printed two centuries ago in 1805. It also housed coins from various periods; pots and several historical reference books. “We are not sure whether these things can be recovered. Most of them have been turned into pulp. Many books are covered in muck. So, it’s going to be a tough job to clean up the books and other items and bring them back to their original conditions. It is very sad to see the oldest library getting damaged in flood,” Deshpande added.

    He said that this is not the first time the library has faced such a situation. There was heavy flooding in 2005. “The government should come out with a permanent plan to deal with these kinds of situations,” Deshpande said.

    Not the first time“In 2005, there was a major flood. Back then, we lost 40,000 books. We were left with 15,000 books,” said Prakash Deshpande

  • Maharashtra floods damage prized collection at 156-yeamaharar-old library

    Express News Service
    MUMBAI:  A 156-year-old library in Maharashtra’s Chiplun town has seen many of its prized collections of books, historical documents, and artifacts covered in mud after the recent floods. Chiplun, in the state’s Ratnagiri district, received very heavy rainfall of about 200 mm in the 24 hours since Saturday evening. The town has been receiving heavy rainfall over the past few days. 

    “There was floodwater up to 12 ft in our building. Old and rare books and documents were floating around in the floodwater. Many artifacts from the medieval and Satvan dynasty period have been damaged. The floodwater remained in the building for four days,” Prakash Deshpande, the working president of the Lokmanya Library and Museum said.   

    The library housed a rare collection of books, including some that were printed two centuries ago in 1805. It also housed coins from various periods; pots and several historical reference books. “We are not sure whether these things can be recovered. Most of them have been turned into pulp. Many books are covered in muck. So, it’s going to be a tough job to clean up the books and other items and bring them back to their original conditions. It is very sad to see the oldest library getting damaged in flood,” Deshpande added.

    He said that this is not the first time the library has faced such a situation. There was heavy flooding in 2005. “The government should come out with a permanent plan to deal with these kinds of situations,” Deshpande said.

    Not the first time“In 2005, there was a major flood. Back then, we lost 40,000 books. We were left with 15,000 books,” said Prakash Deshpande

  • Permission granted to open skill training institute, coaching center and library, order issued

    Collector Dr. S. Bharatidasan has given permission to open a skill training institute, coaching center and library in the district. Order in this regard has been issued on Tuesday. In view of the decrease in the number of positive patients of Kovid-19 under the district, the Collector has issued the order. The Collector has issued detailed guidelines in this regard. As far as possible online class, distance learning has been said to be preferred. Seating capacity is said to include only 50 percent at a time. The institute has been asked to enter the name, mobile number of all persons by keeping a register. This will help in early identification of any person when the corona is infected.

  • Bhupesh Baghel will inaugurate English school and library in Sukma today

    Continuous development plans are coming out of the Chhattisgarh government. Now Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel will reach Sukma on his one-day tour on Monday and inaugurate the English school and library. After this, Durg, Bhilai and Bemetra will be on tour on Tuesday. CM Baghel is visiting different districts of the state from January 2. During this, he has dedicated development work worth crores of rupees to the public.

    Chief Minister Baghel will reach the Gyanodaya campus of Sukma at 12 am from Dantewada on Monday morning. Here Swami Atmanand will inaugurate the English Medium School. After this, at 12.05 pm after dedicating the District Library (Library) in Vivekananda Yuva Shakti campus, at 12.45 pm, we will visit the fitness center. He will then address the general assembly at 12.55 pm after the inauguration and foundation laying of various development works at the mini stadium.

    The CM will visit the development exhibition organized by various departments in the mini stadium itself and distribute the material to the beneficiaries. He will inaugurate the new building of Sarva Adivasi Samaj near Gadiras Road at 2.30 pm and will meet local heads at Circuit House at 3.05 pm. CM Baghel will reach Bhilai-3 police station premises at 5.30 pm from Sukma at 4.05 pm and take a night’s rest at his residence.

  • how to order the VR headset before it sells out

    Looking for an Oculus Quest 2? You’ve probably noticed that the all-in-one VR headset has been selling out regularly at retailers for a little while now. The cheaper £299 / $299 / AU$479 64GB model is particularly popular, but even the higher capacity 256GB model £399 / $399 / AU$639 is in high demand at the moment. 

    Want to place an order now? Order the Oculus Quest 2 directly from Oculus, since it seems to have the most consistent stock available at the retail price (which makes sense). Even its delivery dates are set for later in the month, though.

    You’ll find there’s a little wait wherever you order the Oculus Quest 2 right now, but below, we’ll do our best to keep you up to date on stock in the US and the UK. In the US, Oculus has both 64GB and 256GB Quest 2 stock with an estimated delivery date of December 22 at the time of writing – while Amazon US is waiting on 64GB stock for late December. In the UK, it’s harder, with the 64GB model sold out at most major retailers, and Oculus itself shipping the unit on December 31. There’s stock of the 256GB model at stores like Currys and Amazon, though.

    It’s a good time to buy the Quest 2 – you can enjoy games like Star Wars: Tales from Galaxy’s Edge, which is exclusive to the all-in-one headset, as well as a growing library of favorites like Superhot VR and Beat Saber. You can also connect your headset via Oculus Link to your PC, to access games you might have on Steam or other platforms (here’s how that works, according to Oculus itself).