Data — The Right to Read: RRRLF disbursements, state report cards, world comparisons, and Parliament Q&A on public libraries in India.
STATE OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
The numbers behind the pamphlet. Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation (RRRLF) disbursements 2003–2023, per-state grades and scandal data, world comparison, and India vs China. Updated as new data lands. Use this as your evidence base.
TWO DECADES. A NOSE DIVE.
The Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation is the Union Government's library funding arm. From 2003 to 2023 it disbursed ₹197 crore in total, across 1.4 billion people, across twenty years. The line below is what each Indian got per year, in nominal rupees. In real terms — adjusted for inflation and population growth — the line is far steeper. Even at peak, the Centre was spending less than 25 paise per person per year on every public library in the country combined.
HOW DOES YOUR STATE GRADE?
Pick your state. The card grades it A–F (per-capita spending 50 pts, Library Act 20 pts, RRRLF utilisation 2021–24 20 pts, National Mission on Libraries (NML) participation 10 pts; +5 if the Act defines libraries as free). Below the grade, the scandal: where your state ranks, what the Centre sent, what it walks away with.
MPs ASK ABOUT LIBRARIES. THE STATE EVADES.
A taxonomy of evasion in the State's own words
One verbatim example per category. The classifier's label and political function are shown above the excerpt; the clickable line below it is the original Parliament URI.
Corpus stats and top tags
WE SPEND LESS THAN OTHERS.
India next to the countries that take their public libraries seriously. Per person, per year, in nominal Indian Rupees. The bars for India are so small they are almost invisible — that is the point. Finland spends roughly 360× more per person than the average Indian state. The Centre's contribution rounds, visibly, to zero.
LAND FOR DATA CENTRES. NOT FOR LIBRARIES.
India has land for hyperscale data centres. Hectares cleared, water rights granted, electricity guaranteed, tax holidays signed — for foreign-owned server farms, in a country running out of water, trees, and breathable air. India does not have land for library campuses. Not for a National Library plot per district. Not for a public reading room per ward. China — the country we are told we are "competing" with — built the libraries first and is courting the data centres second. Look at what each one funds.
China enacted its Public Library Law in 2017. India has been drafting one for over six decades. We say we want a knowledge economy. We have given the land to data centres and the silence to libraries. We are leasing the country to servers. We are not building rooms for our readers.
EDUCATE.
AGITATE.
ORGANISE.
Independent of any political party.
Built on the People's National
Library Policy 2024.
Read the policy: fln.org.in