Garhwal Post Bureau
Landhaura (Haridwar), 29 Oct: Chamanlal Autonomous (Government Aided) College, in collaboration with Uttarakhand Open University, successfully organised a two-day Book Exhibition and Free Book Distribution programme, during which approximately 2,000 books were distributed to students entirely free of cost. This measure was aimed at fostering academic enrichment and promoting a culture of reading.
In this respect, Principal Dr Sushil Upadhyay shared that the college had around 2,000 surplus books, originally provided by Uttarakhand Open University in previous years for student use. With the University’s consent, the college arranged the exhibition and distributed these books related to more than 50 subjects. Each student was permitted to take up to 10 books. He added that the programme witnessed overwhelming enthusiasm from the student community, many of whom expressed a desire for it to be held annually.
Ramkumar Sharma, Chairman of the College Management Committee, stated that Chamanlal College has consistently supported economically weaker students through book distribution and tuition fee assistance. This year, the scope of this support has been broadened, and the book distribution will now be institutionalised as an annual event. He appealed to the public to donate any surplus books they may have at home, assuring that the college would distribute these to students free of charge. He added that this effort would not only preserve valuable books but also cultivate reading habits among the youth.
Secretary of the College Management Committee, Arun Harit, encouraged the students to share the books with their fellow junior students once they have completed their studies, thereby extending the reach of this ‘treasure of knowledge’. He also stressed the importance of wider publicity for the initiative to ensure greater participation and impact.
The exhibition and distribution included books suitable for undergraduate, postgraduate, and research-level studies. Titles covered a wide range of disciplines including Commerce, Agriculture, Home Science, Library Science, Humanities, Arts, and major branches of Science. The programme was jointly coordinated by Deepak Agarwal, Director of IQAC, and Anurag Sharma, Centre Coordinator for Uttarakhand Open University.
