(31 May 2017, New Delhi) A meagre total of 75 public libraries are serving the over 200 million population of Uttar Pradesh. Compare this to 4,028 public libraries in Tamil Nadu that serve its 67.8 million population and a study in contrast emerges.
To add to its woes, Uttar Pradesh spends just about Rs 22 crore on its libraries while the amount spent by states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka run into hundreds of crores. Even from the Rs 22 crore that it spends on its public libraries, about Rs 20 crore goes into maintenance and salaries.
Sad as it may sound, the state spends just about Rs 2 crore on outreach activities and on new books.
Why such disparity in the first place?
Prokerala.com asks the questions and finds some answers.
