The article may be of interest to the members: Please read on: CHANDIGARH: Ever thought in a democratic country, where education is one of the basic rights, a person could be asked to pay a tax for making people more knowledgeable? Ask Jaswant Singh, an NRI, who's giving Rs 22,080 per annum as tax for helping people develop love for the books. Singh, a retired librarian from Michigan in USA, decided to introduce reading culture among people in Punjab, his native state. For the purpose, he set up a mobile library with a huge investment. Singh did not receive a penny as grant for his project. However, he spends Rs three lakh annually on books and salaries of three persons employed by him to look after the library. "Apart from it, I have to shell out Rs 5520 every third month (annually Rs 22, 080) as road tax for taking my mobile library to the villages around Ahmadgarh in Sangrur district," says Singh. Full article at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1863442.cms Regards P Venkata Rao ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ P Venkata Rao Librarian M G State Institute of Public Administration,Punjab (MGSIPAP) Institutional Area, Sector 26 Chandigarh 160019, INDIA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ Phone: 91-172-2793588 / 91 Extn: 220 Fax: 91-172-2793588 / 91 Extn: 400 Email: pvrao@mgsipap.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------