http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=105678 NRI starts mobile library at village Anupam Bhagria Ludhiana, November 3: It is a dream come true for NRI Dr Jaswant Singh who started Pahiyanwali Library Sewa at his native village Judahan. He has used his more than 15 years of experience of serving as librarian in the US for the mobile library. The library has more than 1,600 books on all subjects, one trained driver and a part-time library manager. Dr Jaswant Singh said, ''I along with my wife Jasjit Kaur who is also serving as librarian in the US made 90 per cent efforts while the 10 per cent contribution we got from other NRIs. The library has been set by the Anant Education and Rural Development Trust with an investment of Rs 22 lakh and its annual expenditure will be between Rs 5 lakh and 6 lakh, which will also be incurred by the Trust.'' To begin with, the library which was inaugurated today by Prof Prithpal Singh Kapoor, will go in three villages on every Thursday, said Dr Amarjit Singh, member of the Trust, who retired as the Head of Department of Journalism, Languages and Culture from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. He said, ''Today, the library visited villages Judahan, Rangoowal and Phallowal, where books were issued to readers and they were also given the time table of the mobile library, so that more people can know about the timings of the library, so that they may get the books issued and return them.'' Dr Jaswant Singh said, ''Next Thursday, we will go to the same villages and collect the issued books. This way every Thursday we will cover three new villages and slowly we will visit more villages on other days of the week.'' Dr Jaswant Singh, who was a lecturer at Malwa Training College, Ludhiana, went to Canada in the mid-sixties and from here he moved to the US in the '70s and worked as a librarian there for more than 15 years. He said, ''For five months, I stay in India and for seven months in the US. In my absence, the other members of the Trust, Dr Amarjit Singh, Ved Prakash, a retired teacher, Manmohan Singh Virdi, a PCO owner, and Manmohan Singh Gujjarwal, who will see legal aspects and other problems of the library, will take care of the library.'' Jaswant Singh who regrets that the Punjab Public Library Act is not being passed by the state government as it is still lying pending in the office of the Education Secretary. If this is passed, any village can open a library, they can do so with the help of the state government, locals and NRIs. Since 1993, I have been urging the officers of the Punjab government to pass this Act, but in vain.'' Dr.P.Vyasamoorthy, Advisor, Virtual Information Centre, ICICI Knowledge Park, Genome Valley, Turkapally, Shameerpet Mandal, RR District, Hyderabad 500078 INDIA Email: vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com Phone - Office: +91(40)23480053 Fax: +91(40)23480007 Phone Residence: +91(40)27846631