The plight of Libraries in Bihar

By Dr. Shah Ali Adnan, Director, Institute of Tax Accountants

Libraries, especially public libraries, are the knowledge bank of the community directly related to its social and economic development. They are crucial not only for education and research but for ongoing development of the society, politically as well as economically. Bihar's libraries, however, suffer from neglect, shortage of books and journals on diverse subjects, and poor maintenance. They are in a critical state, primarily due to severe and prolonged underfunding. The state, once home to ancient centers of learning, has witnessed a drastic decline in functional libraries, plummeting from 540 in the 1950s to merely 51 today. This decline is mirrored in the rural areas, where over 6,000 village libraries in the 1930s have shrunk to a mere 400. The financial commitment to these vital institutions is alarmingly low, with Bihar spending a minuscule 0.01% of its education budget on libraries, in stark contrast to states like Kerala, which allocates over 3%. This translates to a per capita annual expenditure on library books of just one paisa, significantly below the national average.

Comparative Analysis with Other States:

State	Annual Library Budget (2024-25)
Bihar	₹60 crore
Kerala	₹220 crore
Tamil Nadu	₹180 crore
Maharashtra	₹150 crore

Source: Ministry of Culture, Government of India (2024) [State-wise library budget allocations 2024-25]

From the above table one can see that Bihar lags significantly in its spending on its libraries. This may be due to low social and political priority. The same lack of social and political priority can be witnessed at national level as well.

Comparison of per capita expenditure on libraries in different nations:

Country	Per capita expenditure (2024)
Finland	60.1 euros (₹ 5885)
Denmark	59 euros (₹ 5777)
Norway & Sweden	42 euros (₹ 4113)
India	.000714 euro (7 paise INR)

Source : data.europa.eu

The data reveals a dramatic disparity in per capita public library expenditure between leading nations and India in 2024. Nordic countries demonstrate a strong commitment to library access, with Finland allocating the highest amount at €60.1 (₹5885) per person and Denmark close behind at €59 (₹5777) per person. Norway and Sweden, while slightly lower, still invest significantly at €42 (₹4113) per capita. In stark contrast, India's per capita expenditure is a minuscule €0.000714, equivalent to just seven Indian paise. This represents a difference of several orders of magnitude; for example, Finland spends over 84,000 times more per person on libraries than India does. This vast gulf of difference underscores levels of investment in public knowledge infrastructure and access to information resources.

Budgetary Allocations

The subject “Libraries” comes under the State List (Entry 12 of List II of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India). The Bihar government allocates funds for libraries under the Art and Culture Department and the Education Department. Key observations from budget documents reveal:

• 2020-21: ₹42 crore allocated for public libraries and cultural institutions.

• 2021-22: ₹48 crore (a marginal increase, but mostly for administrative costs).

• 2022-23: ₹52 crore, with promises of digital library initiatives.

• 2023-24: ₹55 crore, including funds for renovating district libraries.

• 2024-25 (Proposed): ₹60 crore, with emphasis on digitization.

Despite nominal increases, the allocations remain insufficient compared to other states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where library budgets far exceeds than that of Bihar. 

Contribution by the Central Government

Though Union Ministry of Culture under its national level programs allocate funds in one of the historically important libraries, i.e., Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, the year-wise budget allocation of which is as below, but is not big enough to fully digitize or procure modern facilities of preservation of its rare manuscripts. 

Financial Year	BE (Rs. in lakh)
2020-21	586.89
2021-22	632.5
2022-23	580.5
2023-24	622

Source:- Ministry of Culture; Posted On: 27 MAR 2025 4:18PM by PIB Delhi

The Bihar State Public Library and Information Centre Act, 2008 (amended in 2012) was enacted with the explicit objective of establishing, regulating, guiding, controlling, and supervising the systematic development of libraries across the state. A key provision of this Act was the mandate for the creation and maintenance of an independent "State Library Fund," which was to be annually audited by the Accountant General. This fund was intended to receive grants from the State Government, as well as contributions from MP/MLA/MLC funds, and other sources, for the maintenance and development of public libraries. But this legislative effort has not borne any visible fruit.

Expenditure vis-à-vis utilization of budgetary allocation in Bihar is also under question mark. For instance, in 2021-22 only 65% of the library budget was spent and in 2022-23 ₹15 crore lapsed due to delayed projects.

Recommendations for Improvement:

1. With respect to the total population of Bihar which happens to be 15 crores (approx.), the respective Budgetary Allocation should be at least ₹750 crore per year so that per capita expenditure comes to a visible amount of Rs.50/-.

2. Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) may be initiated whereby private players may be augmented with good revenue model to help build the knowledge bank of tomorrow.  

3. Digitization Drive ie scanning of available classic books to its digital version be carried out to preserve the knowledge for the future generation.

4. 24x7 hours access should be provided so that the reader may find a good point of reading in their proximity.

5. Books on all subjects should be added with equal infrastructure of preservation so that enriched knowledge bank can augment the readers of all kinds.  

References:

1)      Census of India. (2011). Literacy rates in Bihar. Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India.

2)      Ministry of Culture, Government of India. (2025). Budget allocation for libraries under the Ministry of Culture. Press Information Bureau. 

3)      Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation. (2024). Annual financial reports (2020-2024). Kolkata: RRRLF.

4)      Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library. (2023). Budget utilization reports (2020-2023). Patna, Bihar.

5)      National Mission on Libraries (NML). (2023). Schemes for library development in India. Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India.

6)      Bihar State Budget Documents. (2020-2025). Allocation for libraries under Art and Culture and Education Departments. Finance Department, Govt. of Bihar.

7)      Kerala State Library Council. (2024). Annual report on library expenditure and digital initiatives. Thiruvananthapuram.

8)      Tamil Nadu Public Libraries Act. (2023). Budget and mobile library services. Directorate of Public Libraries, Tamil Nadu.

9)      European Library Statistics. (2023). Per capita expenditure on libraries in Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. data.europa.eu

10)   Patna State Central Library. (2023). Renovation and modernization status report. Department of Art & Culture, Bihar.

11)   Gaya District Library. (2022). Digitization project progress report. District Administration, Gaya.

12)   Muzaffarpur Digital Library. (2023). Public-private partnership (PPP) success case study. Bihar Innovation Forum.