Union minister Amit Shah inaugurates library in Delhi

Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the Jayaprakash Narayan Public Library in central Delhi to cultivate the habit of reading

Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday appealed to youngsters to cultivate the habit of reading and to transform knowledge into action to contribute to nation building.

A view of the Jayaprakash Narayan Library, set up by the NDMC (HT/ Sanchit Khanna)

Inaugurating the Jayaprakash Narayan Public Library in central Delhi, developed by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), Shah described libraries as key indicators of a nation’s intellectual progress and potential for growth.

“Today is an important day for Delhi. It is an honour to inaugurate a library in the name of Jayprakash Narayan who was a visionary thinker and revolutionary who embraced diverse ideologies throughout his life and excelled in every sphere,” Shah said.

The NDMC facility combines conventional reading spaces with digital infrastructure, offering more than 32,000 physical books, access to over 500,000 e-books and digital catalogues, dedicated research spaces and modern reading halls for students, researchers and general public.

The Union minister also shared an initiative undertaken in his home constituency of Gandhinagar in Gujarat. “We conducted a small experiment... We opened small libraries in every village. These may not have too many books, but we linked all these small libraries with bigger ones across the constituency. So, if a village child writes down the name of a book in their local library, that book is made available to them in their village every Friday,” Shah said.

Urging the Delhi government to undertake similar initiatives, he also appealed to the staff of the Jayaprakash Narayan Public Library to reach out to all schools in the ten Assembly constituencies surrounding New Delhi, connect with young people and motivate them to visit.

“I want to say with full confidence to the youth of the country that whatever thoughts come to your mind in the age and stage you are in today, enrich them with the stored knowledge in books.”