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Kathmandu Thursday January 24, 2002 Magh 11, 2058.
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Poverty of books
The news that South Asia will soon have a
regional book council deserves cheers and applause. A scheduled meeting of the publishers
and booksellers of SAARC nations in New Delhi next week will decide the fate of the
proposed regional book house. Although the recently concluded regional jamboree was unable
to deliver much on some of the crucial fronts, with the much-talked about SAPTA and SAFTA
a major letdown, the talk of establishing a book forum comes as a whiff of fresh air. With
this welcome news however, grim pictures of the reading culture and poor facilities at
home have come to the fore. These merit immediate attention. The SAARC book council alone
is unlikely to make any difference to those hundreds of thousands of students and teachers
who run from pillar to post just to get hold of good textbooks, forget reference materials
and journals. Newly prescribed books are either nowhere to be found in the domestic market
or are too expensive for the pockets of the majority of Nepalis.
Libraries are as good as non-existent. The
dearth of essential good books plague the educational sector right from schools to
colleges and universities. How such scarcity affects the quality of education and academic
pursuit can well be imagined. No wonder, the country has too many half-baked academicians
and experts, and the poverty of their intellectual status is reflected time and again,
often when the country needs them the most. The establishment of the SAARC book council
should serve as a guiding light to the government, the Education Ministry, universities,
municipalities and business organisations which have until now paid little or no attention
to alleviating the poverty of books. At the meeting next week, delegates from Nepal must
carefully analyse the likely benefits and do their best to tap a potential source. In line
with the arrangements made, adequate attention should also be given to the libraries at
home. Reviving old libraries, making books by well-known foreign writers available at
reasonable prices, establishing joint-venture publishing houses and well-equipped public
libraries at home are some of the starting points for promoting a reading culture in
Nepal. But this cannot be any one ministry’s show, and calls rather for concerted
efforts.
Investment in books is certain to pay rich
dividends, and set human resources development on the right track. Accessibility is
another factor that facilitates the goal of fostering an intellectual environment. A rich
and modern storehouse of books in the heart of the capital has no meaning to those living
in the remote areas. It only makes sense to them when they have a good library in their
district, if not in their home village. Except for a handful of foreign libraries, the
local libraries are either too traditional or grossly inadequate to meet the needs of
academic pursuit and research undertakings. Even where there is a library, it is ridden
with a host of inconveniences and defective mechanisms. Unscrupulous readers are banking
on lapses in rules and regulations at public and college libraries. A few months ago,
there was a news report on the big and mighty who have failed to return books borrowed
from the library at Tribhuvan University. Such loopholes need to be plugged. Also, Nepali
writers should be encouraged to write, and even more, they need incentives to publish.
Along with this comes the need for a forum for the free flow of intellectual discussion,
exchange of creative ideas and experience and adequate remuneration. Easier said than
done, yet this is one area that demands much but promises more. |
