In Uttarakhand horses canter to remote villages spreading knowledge through mobile libraries

Horses have since time immemorial helped humankind as a beast of burden and moved them across places. Now they are aiding in educating children and spreading knowledge.

This is precisely what Nainital’s Ghoda Library in Uttarakhand does and so novel and unique is this campaign to spread education that it was mentioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his 105^th episode of Mann Ki Baat series on Sunday. Feeling happy about being appreciated by the PM, the person who conceived this project Shubham Badhani has decided to spread the campaign to rural areas and remote areas to help children deprived of information.

Talking to the media, Badhani said that the concept of starting this mobile library on a horse came to him when he was confronted with the difficult terrain of the region and the lack of connectivity. Resorting to horses, it was found that these animals were able to overcome these obstacles and reach even difficult areas.

In the beginning a farmer from Jaina village named Diwan Singh Rawat gave his horse for starting the mobile horse library on June 12 this year and when the news about this initiative reached other villages, they received an overwhelming response. At present they have 10 horses that have been provided by various volunteers from different villages.

In its first round the mobile library issues books to children and in the next round, they either reissue them if required or provide them with new ones. The villages covered through the horse library network include Jalna, Bagni, Dhinwa-khadak, Gountiya, Dola, Mahatgaon, Kalsee, Mahal dhura, and Talla Jalna.

For rural children these books open a whole new world to which they don’t have access as their region does not have public libraries.