U'kd: Govt college library keeps outdated editions, students erupt in protest

The Berlin Wall is intact and so is the Soviet Union. This is the impression you get if you browse the books in the library at a government college here, according to a student leader.

"90 per cent of the books at the library are outdated editions," Mahendra Singh Rawat, student leader at Government PG College, Pithoragarh said.

"According to the political science books available in the college library, the Soviet Union is still existent, the Berlin wall is intact and the cold war between the two super powers of Soviet Union and the US is still on," he said.

Rawat, Students Union President Rakesh Joshi along with other students of the college have been sitting on a dharna since the last one month against keeping outdated editions in the library.

"Though the college library has more than one lakh books, 90 per cent of them are outdated editions which are of no use to students," Bhagwan Singh Rawat, former students union president of the college, said.

The agitators demand that the college should immediately replace the old editions with the latest edition of books.

"The college gets no special grants for buying books for the library. The money spent over the books comes from the monthly fees paid by students (Rs 5 per head) which is barely enough to meet the book requirements of a single department, let alone those of the entire college," Mahendra Singh said.

The agitating students also alleged that while the college was giving admission to thousands of students every year, the number of books available to them is a meagre number.

Speaking on the row, Pithoragarh PG College Principal
Uttarkhand Higher Education Director S C Pant, however,
Meanwhile, Uttarkhand Higher Education Minister Dhan Singh Rawat expressed doubts over the involvement of