FM moots national digital library

Subject :Schemes

Concept :

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has proposed a national digital library for children and adolescents along with strengthening of the National Book Trust,for building a “culture of reading” and to make up for pandemic time learning losses.
She said the States would be encouraged to set up physical libraries at panchayat and ward levels, and provide infrastructure for accessing the National Digital Library resources.

National Digital Library

National Digital Library of India (NDLI) is a project of the Ministry of Human Resource Development under the aegis of National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT).
It is developed by IIT Kharagpur.
Objective: The objective of NDL is to make digital educational resources available to all citizens of the country to empower, inspire and encourage learning.
Key facts:
NDL is the Single Window Platform that collects and collates metadata from premier learning institutions in India and abroad, as well as other relevant sources.
It is a digital repository containing textbooks, articles, videos, audio books, lectures, simulations, fiction and all other kinds of learning media.
It makes quality learning resources available to all learners and has 1.7 Crore content from more than 160 sources, in over 200 languages.

About NMEICT:

The National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been envisaged as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to leverage the potential of ICT, in teaching and learning process for the benefit of all the learners in Higher Education Institutions in any time anywhere mode.
The Mission has two major components – providing connectivity, along with provision for access devices, to institutions and learners; and content generation.

National Book Trust

NBT, India is an apex body established by the Government of India (Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development) in the year 1957.

Objectives of the NBT are

to produce and encourage the production of good literature in English, Hindi and other Indian languages.
to make such literature available at moderate prices to the public.
to bring out book catalogues, arrange book fairs/exhibitions and seminars and take all necessary steps to make the people book minded.