Union Budget 2023: National Digital Library is government’s tech solution to provide education to all

• National Digital Library to be set up to facilitate the availability of quality books.
• Books and resources will be available in multiple languages, including English and regional languages.
• The National Digital Library will be sponsored and mentored by the Ministry of Education, Government of India.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her union budget presentation today, announced that a National Digital Library for children and adolescents would be set up to facilitate the availability of quality books. According to the Finance Minister, the digital library will facilitate the availability of books across languages, geographies, genres, and levels.

The National Digital Library will be sponsored and mentored by the Ministry of Education, Government of India, through its National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT).

“States will be encouraged to set up physical libraries for them at panchayat and ward levels and provide infrastructure for accessing the National Digital Library resources,” says FM Nirmala Sitharaman.

Nirmala Sitharaman also announced a plan to boost non-curricular reading in regional languages and English for lost learning due to the pandemic. More details on the plan are awaited.

The aim is to extend access to knowledge to a wider population, but it’s unclear whether the whole library will be free to access or there will be some charge or subscription to access select set of material.

What is National Digital Library?

A National Digital Library will be a repoository of digital objects, such as books, articles, images, videos, and other forms of multimedia, that will be made available to users for access and use over the internet.

National Digital Library will provide access to information and knowledge and can be used for research, education, or personal interest. Unlike traditional libraries, which store physical items, digital libraries will store information in digital format and provide access through computers, laptops, mobiles, or other internet-connected devices.

With the introduction of the National Digital Library, users across the country will be benefited from easy search and retrieval of information, as well as the ability to preserve information for future generations in a sustainable manner.

Users can access educational materials ranging from elementary to post-graduate level. Other than this, information can be tailored based on language preference, education level, degree of difficulty, and other considerations.

The digital library will support multiple languages, including English and regional languages, to make its resources available to wider audiences. We can expect a user-friendly interface with advanced search capabilities to make it easy for users to find the information they need. We can hope the National Digital Library will have easy to use interface the general public use that.

Also, there can be a collaboration between the National Digital Library, institutions, and individuals to create a rich and diverse collection of educational resources.

1 lakh ancient inscriptions in digital epigraphy museum

Furthermore, Bharat Shared Repository of Inscriptions will be set up in a digital epigraphy museum. The repository will digitise one lakh ancient inscriptions in the first stage of the project, Sitharaman revealed.

An estimated 38,800 teachers and support staff will be recruited for Eklavya Model Residential Schools, in the next three years. There are 740 such schools serving 3.5 lakh tribal students.

To proliferate health education and skilling, 157 new nursing colleges will also be established, FM said. This will be in co-location with the existing medical colleges that have been established since 2014.

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