KOLKATA: Allegations have been raised againstRaja Ram Mohan Roy Library Foundation - an autonomous organization established and financed by the Union ministry of culture - for violating norms while selecting books for hundreds of libraries across the country.
While the Foundation was established to support public library services and systems, it has now been alleged that the nodal agency is hindering the library movement by breaching all rules formulated by it.
To begin with, the guideline that the Book Selection Committee of the foundation is supposed to abide by says a book "costing above Rs 500 shall not be ordinarily selected". However, the committee breached the clause in its 41st meeting and shortlisted some books that cost up to 10 times the proposed limit.
"The clause says books costing above Rs 500 shall not 'ordinarily' be selected. But if the committee members feel any costly book deserves to be at a library and there is good acceptability among readers, then such books can be considered," justified foundation director K K Banerjee, who is also a member of the Book Selection Committee. When told about the matter, academic Sunanda Sanyal said, "When guidelines are there, members should adhere to them. When I was a member of the committee, we followed them and no such allegations were made then."
From the list of books that has been selected in the latest meeting, it appears that the members have shortlisted around 70,484 copies of 263 such "costly" books, some of which cost Rs 5,000 (340 copies), Rs 4,200 (340 copies), Rs 3,000 (340 copies) or Rs 2,995 (340 copies).
Banerjee argued that there's no hard and fast rule that the Rs 500 limit has to be followed and that time has come to revise the price limit. But it appears that the committee has jumped the gun by selecting costly books instead of amending the guidelines. Even in reply to an RTI filed by a resident of Shahdara in New Delhi, the foundation clarified: "Highly expensive books have not been considered."
Academic Pabitra Sarkar harbours a similar notion like Banerjee. He said, "I think the Rs 500 limit is far to less. The guidelines should be amended. But as far as norms are there, they should not be violated."
The rulebook also says: "Books written, edited or published by the members or officials connected with the foundation may not be ordinarily selected during their tenure." In reality, the committee in its last meeting selected some books written by one of the members of the Book Selection Committee. While Banerjee initially denied any such possibility, he promised to "look into" the matter after TOI pointed out the names of the books. When TOI contacted the author (who is a member of the committee) in Delhi, he said: "The secretary of the ministry of culture has the authority to select such books depending on their merit."
A ccording to a source also alleged that undue preference is given to a city-based publishing house run by the husband of an employee of the organization. "The publisher, based in Santoshpur, submits specimens of books using two names and gets orders in bulk. There's nobody to verify these facts. There's no book-review committee to cross-check the specimen books. The selection committee selects book arbitrarily," he alleged. When TOI brought this to the notice of the foundation director, he promised to "look into" the matter.
Allegations have also been raised over the shortlisting of the books selected by the committee. In the last meeting, 5,539 books were primarily selected by the committee. But the list was later reduced to 2,374. Though a Delhi-based committee member confirmed that they had not been intimated about the shortlisting, Banerjee clarified: "There's a dedicated team that looks after all the details of the books while shortlisting them."
According to sources, the committee also violated Official Language Act and did not earmark 50% of the budgetary allocation (Rs 10 crore) for purchasing Hindi books. But Banerjee rubbished the allegation saying: "Some publishers with vested interest are trying to malign pointing fingers at the foundation."
However, in reply to the RTI months after the books were selected, the foundation said the Official Language Act had been strictly adhered to and the total net cost of Hindi titles "likely" to be ordered was Rs 6.09 crore.
Asokendu Sengupta:
