Exam books now lifeline of Bengal’s ageold libraries

Books on competitive exams are keeping alive the trickle of readers to these once grand repositories of knowledge

themselves to find out books stacked in their room,” said Chapal Chakraborty, a member of the managing committee.

Members of the committee volunteer for the library in their spare time. Chakraborty was not exaggerating as it is impossible for a Group D employee to identify books and suggest them to potential readers. Ironically, these are the very institutions that acted as repositories of knowledge and nurtured the Bengal renaissance that is regarded to have flourished between Raja Rammohun Roy (1772-1833) and Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941).

The books and the public library movement were integral to Bengal Renaissance. It picked up pace in the 1850s in the immediate aftermath of the enactment of the Public Library Act, 1851, in the UK, and a series of public libraries and free reading rooms came up in the first decade itself. “Many of the libraries established around that time are still operational. But all of them are struggling to attract readers due to lack of staff and poor service,” said Ashok Basu, secretary of Bengal Library Association.

According to government records, there are more than 3,000 vacancies among the 5,520 sanctioned posts for about 2,000 functional public libraries.

Among the libraries founded in Bengal in the 1850s are Rishi Rajnayaran Basu Smriti Pathagar in Midnapore (1851), founded by Rajnayaran Basu, a prominent face of the Renaissance, and Uttarpara Jaykrishna Public Library (1859), founded by Jaykrishna Mukherjee, another celebrated personality. Other libraries include Hooghly Public Library (1854), Krishnanagar Public Library (1856) and Konnagar Public Library (1858).

Jaykrishna Public Library was patronised by luminaries of Bengal Renaissance, including Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar (educationist, social reformer), Michael Madhusudan Dutt (poet, pioneer of Bengali drama), Keshab Chandra Sen (Huindu philosopher, social thinker) and Mahendralal Sarkar (who founded Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science in 1876 that is one of the country’s oldest research institutes). It is one of the three ‘Grade A’ libraries in the state. Prominent personalities, from linguist Suniti Kumar Chattopadhyay to former chief minister Jyoti Basu, demanded that it be declared a library of national importance because of its rich heritage and exceptional collection of rare and old books and manuscripts. Of the 1.65 lakh books in its collection, more than 60,000 are considered rare.

“Jaykrishna Public Library has 24 sanctioned posts but is presently being serviced by only eight people, half of who are group D staffs. There has been no librarian for months,” said a library assistant. “We are struggling to provide service to the hundred-odd people who visit every day, but the district magistrate has instructed to open a students’ corner focusing on books on competitive exams,” another staff said. Library minister Siddiqullah Chowdhury said, “We have asked the libraries to increase books on competitive exams.”

Congress veteran CK Jaffer Sharief has backed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for the president post, saying nobody should doubt his patriotism just because he was from “one schoo of thought”.

“I personally believe nobody should find fault with Mohan Bhagwat’s name being consid ered as a choice for the president ship of our country,” Sharief said in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

The 83-year-old leader exhorted all minorities, includ ing Muslims, not to have “any fear or crisis of confidence” in Bhagwat’s name being consid ered for the post.

He said there were different schools of thought in India, which is “but natural for such a vast sec ular country”. While Bhagwat might belong to one school of thought, “there should not be any doubt about his patriotism”.

Bhagwat, who has courted controversy several times in the past with his staunch pro-hindu stand— has said that he was not in the race to become the Presi dent --- after the Shiv Sena pro posed his name. President Pra nab Mukherjee’s term is set to end in July this year.

Sharief, however, urged peo ple to show a large heart and not doubt as long as one worked under the Constitution.

“Why should anyone now become small and narrow minded to say we have no faith and confidence in an Indian?” he asked.