By – Amar Yumnam
The banner news on the first page of the 08 October 2026 edition of this paper read as: “Rs. 2.18 crore Library grant under cloud: NML finds discrepancies, accountability question mounts” relating to “State Central Library Scam – 1”. The moment I saw the headlines and before reading the details, my heart had started feeling the pains. The details of the issues are: A. In February of 2023, a grant of Rs. 2,18,86,958 (Rupees two crores, eighteen lakhs, eighty-six thousand, nine hundred and fifty-eight) was received. B. The grant was provided under the National Mission on Libraries by the Ministry of Culture of the Government of India for upgrading the State Central Library to the level of a Model Library. C. The nature of the grant was rightly strict that it could not be subjected to the usual habit of reallocation (practically meaning diversion of funds) of the government. D. In case of lapses of any kind, the grantee (the State Central Library) is liable for complete refund of the whole amount. E. While the first Utilisation Certificate was submitted in the middle of 2025, the National Library Mission developed suspicions of the manner the funds were being utilised including those meant for the differently abled persons. F. A physical verification was naturally followed. In this, nothing has been found right and compatible with the original objectives. So, the cat is out of the bag now.
In this connection, I once again recall what Prof Brahmananda of the Economics Department of the first university of India, University of Bombay, used to tell his students “If you have not read Musgrave, you are STUPID.” It was a personal witness as well, and I still remember the Librarian procuring additional copies of the Public Finance written by Musgrave as the demand from the students kept rising. It was a book which gave a first systematic understanding and analysis of the finances of government. What the Professor, our teacher, had emphasised was not memorisation on topics for appearing in examinations but the knowledge for proper understanding of anything being learnt. In this, reading the original books written by the authorities of the subject is definitely the only way.
I know pretty well that the Manipur Education Sector scenario, starting from the primary to the University levels, wears an absolutely bad and precarious picture today. I cannot resist asserting that the representatives of the people in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s were definitely more educated than those who have come after them. They invariably understood the importance of education and the role library plays in creating a successful atmosphere for learning. On looking back, I can say with definitiveness that the Central Library of Manipur, as I had experienced it in the early 1970s must be one of the bests in the country at that time. I did not feel like reading the help-books easily available in the market nor did my family could easily afford buying any book from the market. Further, when our teachers taught us so well in our Economics Honours Classes the contributions made by the great Economists, I did want to see books where their contributions were discussed as guided by our teachers in the Imphal College. Because of these factors, I admitted myself as a Student Reader at the Central Library in Imphal and rush immediately after our classes were over. It was thanks to this Library that I read Alfred Marshall, Irving Fisher and John Hicks in their original contributions fairly early in my academic career; only stupid students of Economics and half-educated persons would not know these names and the path-breaking contributions they had made.
Recalling those memories and reading the banner headlines of what is happening today that I feel if the present generations of representatives of people are educationally stupid as compared to the earlier ones. To save time, let me put a quote from Nancy Kranich on what a library is: “Democracies need libraries. An informed public constitutes the very foundation of a democracy; after all, democracies are about discourse—discourse among the people. If a free society is to survive, it must ensure the preservation of its records and provide free and open access to this information to all its citizens. It must ensure that citizens have the resources to develop the information literacy skills necessary to participate in the democratic process. It must allow unfettered dialogue and guarantee freedom of expression. Libraries deepen the foundation of democracy in our communities.”
Earlier knowledge was mainly limited to understanding. But today knowledge is so linked up with abilities such that the global race in the relative competence in linking capabilities is in-built in every functioning in all branches of governance. But we are regressing from the foundation given by our predecessors. Can we not afford basic sincerity at least in the core foundations for moving forward?