LITERARY REFUGE
“WE HAVE ESTABLISHED 11 LIBRARIES IN DISTRICT JAILS IN UTTAR PRADESH, INCLUDING GHAZIABAD, LUCKNOW, MEERUT, ALIGARH, AGRA AND MATHURA”
Rishi Tiwari is founder-secretary of the Ranganathan Society for Social Welfare and Library Development (RSSWLD), an organisation working to disseminate knowledge, especially in rural areas and jails. “My father was an officer in the MP police department,” says Tiwari. “While he was posted at Bhind we lived near the district jail. That was when I noticed inmates—living in isolation, which led them to depression and frustration.” After joining the Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH) foundation as head librarian in 2005, Tiwari, in a chance meeting with Harivansh Chaturvedi, director, BIMTECH, brought up some ideas he had based on his observation about inmates. Founding RSSWLD in 2009 under Chaturvedi’s mentorship, Tiwari’s aims included setting up libraries in jails and rural areas. The organisation is centered on inmate rehabilitation, community welfare, social awareness and charity and promotion of libraries.
Officially, there are libraries in every jail in UP. However, a team of RSSWLD members noted that many of these were neglected. “We came up with a project to redevelop them—this is how our first ‘BIMTECH Pustakalaya’ started in UP in March 2012,” says Tiwari. These efforts have led to positive outcomes such as increased literacy rates among inmates and a reduction in violence and suicides. “We have over 100,000 prisoners in UP. If we can change the mindset of even 100 inmates, it is commendable,” says Sharad Kulshrestha, AIG prisons, UP. The superintendent of Dasna Jail, Vipin K. Mishra, agrees, saying, “Libraries give inmates an opportunity to use this period of their lives to transform and develop intellectually.” The biggest challenge was permissions and legal formalities. “Bringing inmates to libraries was also a task,” he says, “and it became a reality thanks to the support of the authorities. We have established 11 libraries in district jails in Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Meerut, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Aligarh, Etawah, Agra, Bulandshahr, Firozabad and Mathura and have recently set up one at the central jail in Gwalior and Narsinghpur, MP.” ■