Dumka (Jharkhand):In the rural areas of Jharkhand, literacy level
of women is low. Traditionally, they have remained confined to their homes and fields and even today their world revolves around within these parameters. For
a long time, they have held a desire to seek new avenues of information of the
aspects related to their daily lives and local developments. Given the fact that
very little emerged from within their environment to require a change, not until
Mobile Libraries came into the scene. It’s an initiative of the Poorest Areas
Civil Society (PACS) project that seeks to address issues of poverty in 120 districts
across India by improving access to rights and entitlements by those who remain
socially excluded of whom women form a large chunk. Young enthusiastic boys ride
bicycles across 30 villages in Maheshpur block in Pakur district loaded with not
only books, newspapers but forms for old-age pension, information on Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and Forest Rights for sharing
with the local communities. The women held back, perhaps because of lack of literacy
and being unsure of how all this material could relate to them. This bastion was
also broken once these young ‘library activists’ started to speak to them, giving
them information about the material they had and how it could benefit them. Women
gradually came out to listen with deep interest about Annapurna Yojana, about
facilities available to a Below Poverty Line ( BPL ) cardholder under various
government schemes. It now seems clear that the spark had been there, the desire
to gain new knowledge and insights, about how to better their lives. The Mobile
Library had only triggered it off. Stanecila Hambrum from Birkitta Village says
that the women now understand the importance of this mobile library. “We are making
them aware of their rights, laws related to women including those on ‘violence
against women’ the Panchayat Raj system and their participation in it.” Usually,
to the urban conditioned mind a library in a village is not easily conceivable.
Yet it is in these very rural areas in Jharkhand, struggling with basic issues
like health, education, food and housing, that information needs to flow. How
else can rural communities, poor and backward sections, the adivasis link with
the mainstream, to access the fruits of development and join in the march to progress?
These libraries are leading to a gradual spreading of this storehouse of information
in the villages. Instead of remaining an institution for public access, it has
taken the institution to the people, breaking down its volumes of information
in such a way, that is understood, assimilated by even those who are out of the
literacy net. Thus going beyond the conventional sense of a library. Dr. Victor
Tigga, Vice-chancellor, Sido-Kanhu Murm University , Dumka district in the ‘Santhal
paragana’ says, “The flow of information is vital, it changes the thinking of
common people. In a fast changing world like ours, it is important to understand
so many things. But unfortunately, information revolution has not benefited the
rural areas.” Through such libraries, what is happening is a gradual spreading
of this storehouse of information in the villages. Rather than remaining an institution
which people access, it has taken on a pro-active role of taking the institution
to the people, breaking down its tomes of information in such a way, that is understood,
assimilated by even those who are out of the literacy net. Thus going beyond the
conventional sense of a library. In doing so, these Mobile Libraries have upheld
a lofty principle, the core of any enlightened or egalitarian society. That knowledge
is free and the access to it should be unhindered, beyond any societal divisions
of class, region, caste, language or gender. It actually boils down to the enthusiasm
of its members to bring about positive change on the ground. Michael Hambrum,
says, “I want to do something for the society. As a member of mobile library,
I am working as a carrier of news, information and knowledge. Today, rural people
are more awakened. This is an effective tool to fight the backwardness of the
society.” The good news is that inspite of the backwardness and low development
the impetus for change has begun amongst rural communities. There is a keen sense
of seeking information about agriculture, about markets, employment and in fact
developments beyond their village sphere. This is, in a sense, the key to a holistic
and sustained development, one that emerges from within society and not merely
from without or ‘top-down’. Government welfare schemes, programs for development
will remain limited in the absence of an aware community, which reaches out and
derives benefit from it. For any benefit to be effective and deep-rooted, there
necessarily needs to be participation from the ground. The Library as a hub could
work very well in fostering this participation, building a dynamic partnership
between the government and the governed. The scope of such initiatives in a rural
scenario is manifold and extends to new dimension from merely academic interest
or a collection of reading material to become a dynamic vehicle for social change.
It points to a direction, which should be taken up by agencies, those promoting
public-private partnership to rise to the occasion and build on what the PACS
initiative has opened up. Today we are witnessing the passing of a long awaited,
salutary piece of legislation, the Right to Education which brings to every child
the fundamental right to learn and break out of the darkness of ignorance. Libraries,
mobile or otherwise across rural India could play a stellar role in enhancing
this learning, aiding the new generation of literates with nuggets of information
and knowledge not only about their course matter but the wider world. According
to Charkha Features, Somewhere at the beginning of the previous this century,
eminent poet and litterateur Rabindranath Tagore visualised an ideal for our society:
“ Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where the mind is
led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action. Into that heaven of
freedom, my Father, let my country awake.” Now near the beginning of this century,
perhaps the time is right when this ideal can be realized.
