National Mission on Libraries

• The National Knowledge Commission (NKC) in its Report to the Nation (2006-2009) made ten major recommendations on libraries. In pursuance of this, a High Level Committee to be called as National Mission on Libraries (NML) has been set up by the Government of India
• The composition of the Committee, terms of reference, tenure, management support and method of operation has been elaborated in the Gazette of India (Part I Section I Number 20) issued by the Government on  4th May 2012.
• Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation (RRRLF), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Culture will be the nodal agency for the National Mission on Libraries for administrative, logistics, planning and budgeting purposes.
• The first meeting of the NML was held on 18th May, 2012. In this meeting certain decisions have been taken for improvement in the library sector.
• These include: national census of libraries, content creation and setting up of community information centres, up-gradation of the existing public libraries, school and college libraries and use of school libraries as community libraries, and improvement in library and information science education training and research facilities.
• An amount of Rs.400.00 crore has been earmarked for NML Project for the Twelfth Five Year Plan and an amount of Rs. 50.00 crore has been proposed in the Annual Plan proposal for the year 2013-14. During 2012-13 an amount of Rs.3.00 crore has been earmarked and the expenditure incurred till date is Rs.24.86 lakhs. 
• NML has also decided to set up Working Groups with domain experts to prepare an implementation plan. The Mission would be primarily an advisory body to endorse the plans and programs prepared by the Working Groups.

Cultural Heritage Young Leadership Programme

• Aims to promote cultural awareness among school children, to develop a love for India’s rich cultural heritage.
• The focus is on the less-privileged children residing in backward areas through regional languages as a medium of communication as far as possible. 
• The Scheme would broadly consist of distribution of existing audio-visual (AV) materials related to culture amongst schools, production of new AV material including publications related to culture. 
• It will support visits to monuments and museums by students of less-privileged schools. The financial assistance by the Ministry of Culture would consist of upto Rs. 5000/- per set of DVD in case of AV material; upto Rs. 1 lakh for production of CDs/DVDs/Publications for children and upto Rs. 500 per child, per trip in case of visits to monuments, which will include the cost of conveyance, food, entry fee for ticketed monuments/shows etc. Ministry of Culture may double this assistance in cases of exceptional merit.

Scheme of Financial Assistance for publication of magazines and journals

• Under the scheme Ministry of Culture will give financial support of upto Rs. 10 lakh a year, and in exceptional cases, upto Rs. 20 lakh ,to magazines and journals dedicated to India’s cultural heritage. 
• Scheme is intended to fill a gap being currently encountered in financial assistance for publication and support to journals and magazines dedicated to India’s culture and heritage. 
• It will also cover publication of books on Indian culture and heritage.