Free Libraries For All A People's Pamphlet
ACT!Write to your CM and the PM — now.→
India spends just
₹11.62
per person, per year on every public library combined.

WHERE IS OUR RIGHT TO READ?

So much money for statues — but none for our libraries!!! We say we are a Vishwaguru. How?

THE SHAPE OF NEGLECT.

WHAT ₹11.62 BUYS YOU, IN 2026:

Not one sip of restaurant coffee.
Not one Swiggy delivery fee.
Not one Uber kilometre.
Not three minutes of Netflix.
Not one page of your child's textbook.
Not even contempt.
Where your tax goes

WHERE YOUR TAX GOES. NOT TO YOU.

Type your annual salary
₹
₹3 Lakh₹50 Lakh₹1 Crore
India's middle class spans roughly ₹5–30 lakh annual household income (PRICE 2023). Below — what the Centre will allocate from your tax this year.
The Centre's receipt
Your estimated income tax this year:
₹71,500
to public libraries (Centre, all sources)
₹2.91
to telling you the State works 3× more
₹9.59
forgiven for corporate tax cut, 2019 (your share) 743× more
₹2,160

From your tax, the Centre will spend 3× more telling you it works than on the libraries the Constitution promised you. And it forgave 700 times more in revenue from billion-dollar corporations than it spent on libraries — under Articles 14, 21 and 21A.

State by state

31 STATES. ONE SCANDAL.

Per-capita public library expenditure, ₹ per person per year, 2020–21 — the most recent year tabled by the Ministry of Culture. Goa spends 1,400× more than Jharkhand. Both are in the same country. Both are governed by the same Constitution. Pick your state. See the scandal.

The budget is a moral document

WE CAN AFFORD IT. WE CHOOSE NOT TO.

Not poor. Deprioritised. Three lines, one scale.

All public libraries · 1 year
₹1,406 CR
PLI corporate subsidies · 1 year avg
~₹40,000 CR
Corporate tax cut (2019) · 1 year
₹1,45,000 CR
Libraries = 0.03% of the Union Budget.
PLI · 1 yr = 28 years of every public library combined.
Tax cut · 1 yr = 103 years of every public library combined.

Statues. Expressways. Hyperscale data centres for foreign corporations. Tax cuts for billion-dollar companies. Not libraries — under Articles 14, 21 and 21A.

THE LIBRARY IS A RIGHT. NOT A FAVOUR.

Now do something about it.
Seven minimum standards

WHAT A PUBLIC LIBRARY MUST BE.

The next part is the only part that has ever changed anything.

WRITE. TO. YOUR. CM. AND. THE. PM.

Note: the buttons below open your mail app with the letter pre-loaded. You'll add the recipient's email address yourself — find your CM and the PM's contact in the steps below.
Open mail with letter → 


      

        How to send    +
        
    
          
  1. To your Chief Minister. Find the CMO contact at your state government's website — search "[Your State] CM grievance" or "[Your State] CMO email". Most state CMOs publish a public email or a contact form. (Coming soon: a verified per-state directory in this letter.)
    2. 
          
  2. To the Prime Minister. Use the official PM contact form at pmindia.gov.in/en/interact-with-honble-pm ↗. The PMO does not publish a direct email, but every submission via the form is logged.
    3. 
          
  3. For an audit trail. File the same complaint via the central grievance portal at pgportal.gov.in ↗ (CPGRAMS) — every submission gets a docket number and a response timeline. Address it to the Ministry of Culture and your State CMO.
    4. 
          
  4. Click Open in mail to draft the email if you have your CM's address. Otherwise Copy text and paste into the portal forms.
    5. 
          
  5. Send. Then send to a friend.
    6. 
        

      

    

  


  
  

    
Six things, in order of difficulty

    
AFTER THE LETTER — THE WORK.

    

  


  
  

    

      
What a library actually is

      
THE LIBRARY IS NOT A FAVOUR.

      
It is not a reading room conceded to the deserving by the powerful. It is not a place for engineering aspirants only. It is a constitutional infrastructure — equal to the courthouse, the school, the polling booth.

      
It is the gate through which the people walk into themselves.