While Chief Minister Siddaramaiah prepares to present the State budget for 2024-25 this week, the Karnataka government is yet to approve the 2023-24 budget allocation of about ₹150 crore for libraries, bringing book purchases to a standstill.
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Publishers in Karnataka blame the Department of School Education and Literacy and the Department of Public Libraries for the delay.
Violation of rules
Civic bodies across Karnataka collect library cess, which is given to the Department of Public Libraries. Meanwhile, district and city libraries submit an action plan every year to the District and City Library Authority, which in turn collates these proposals and submits an overall action plan, involving expenditure of about ₹150 crore, to the Department of Public Libraries. As per rules, the action plan has to be approved by March 15 every year.
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However, the budget proposal was submitted to the department as late as September 2023. Adding to the problem, the State Government is yet to approve the action plan.
Satishkumar S. Hosamani, Director of Department of Public Libraries, said that the budget proposal had already been sent for approval, and they hope that the State Government would approve the same soon.
Book purchase comes to a halt
Every year, the Department of Public Libraries purchases books published two years ago for libraries across Karnataka. In 2023-24, books published in 2021 had to be purchased, but the process hasn’t begun yet, as the action plan was not approved, allege publishers.
“As the government has not approved the budget of the library authority for the year 2023-24, the book purchase process for libraries has come to a standstill. With the budget for 2023-24 yet to be approved, it has created a roadblock to submit an action plan for 2024-25 as well. Due to this, book publishers are in trouble, as this is one of our main sources of income,” said Srushti Nagesh, Joint Secretary, Karnataka Publishers’ Association.