The Library on Wheels Project

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT

India is stream rolling her way into development but illiteracy continues to plague a large section of
the people in India. However, in the recent times many children have shown the urge to learn, to be
educated and have started attending schools. Despite being able to attend school these children are
unable to afford academic books due to the high prices. Often the libraries of our educational
institutions lack quality educational and informative books. This deters students from reading and
acquiring adequate knowledge on different subjects.
In order to provide access to quality educational books to students in India, Ratna Nidhi in
association with ACC Trust seeks to create access to world class educational books to needy students
in India free of cost. We aim to do this by setting up a Library on Wheels. This library will move
around Chandrapur district in Maharashtra, making books accessible to children from low income
backgrounds.

The project aims to cultivate reading habits among children by providing access to quality and
informative reading material free of cost to educational institutions in India.

METHODOLOGY

What will we do?

Ratna Nidhi will convert a Maruti EECO car or a Force Motors Delivery Van into a book library and
provide the necessary books for the mobile library.

Maruti Suzuki EECO

 Force Motors Delivery Van

How will we do it?

Ratna Nidhi receives close to 1000 books on a daily basis from individuals and institutions all over
India. These books will be set up into the library, thereby creating access to quality reading material
for the students.

ACC Trust has selected 13 villages in Chandrapur district and has prepared a visit schedule for the
modified vehicle with an aim to visit every village at least twice a month on a fortnightly basis.

A volunteer has been appointed by ACC Trust who is a designated driver and librarian for running
the project. The volunteer is availing support for the project from the Gram Panchayat School
Headmasters and student volunteers at every village in order to run the project smoothly.

The modified car is visiting each village as per the decided schedule and is issuing books to individual
students in that village along with a library card which has details such as the name of the student,
date of issue of the books and date of return of the books.

EXTENSION OF THE PROJECT – DIGITAL LITERACY

As an extension to the existing Library on Wheels project, Ratna Nidhi wishes to facilitate Digital
Literacy in the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. The modified car would have the provision of
incorporating a shelf or a foldable desk in order to accommodate a laptop on the same. A Jio dongle
would provide the necessary internet access to play information-based, academic-driven videos
online through mediums such as YouTube. Over and above that, other pre-loaded educational
material for school students could be added in a pen drive and the teacher-cum-driver can teach the
students the same content during each of the visits to the school. The medium of instruction for the
digital content could be in Marathi, Hindi and even English.

ROLE OF NPCI

• Expense of purchasing a second-hand or brand-new Maruti EECO car or Force Motors

Delivery Van
• Expense of remodeling the car interiors
 ROLE OF ACC Trust

• Seamless execution of the project on ground in Chandrapur district

• Expense for driver + petrol + 1 project coordinator + other running expenses of the project

ROLE OF RATNA NIDHI

• Books to be displayed in the car will be provided

• Arrange for the modification of the car
Note: We could accommodate about 1500 to 2000 books initially in the modified EECO car
and about 3000 to 5000 books in the modified Force Motors Delivery Van. These books
would be story books and reference books for young children. Educational books would be
beyond the scope of the curriculum meant for students seeking additional practice in
different subject areas. The books could be replenished by Ratna Nidhi once every quarter
subject to the feedback received from the local schools.

USP OF FOR
RESOURCES THE THE
CENTER
PROJECT

• Driver for the Vehicle

• Teacher: who will be responsible to evaluate each child’s academic level and accordingly,
suggests a reading plan and organize story telling session for student groups.
Note: In order to save cost on manpower, a teacher who knows how to drive could be hired
• Petrol for the vehicle
• Remodeling expense for the car
• Other running expense for the project

NUMBER OF BENEFICIARIES IMPACTED OVER 10 YEARS

Number of years to complete the project in Chandrapur district 10

Number of children impacted every year 50,000
Number of children impacted in 10 years 5,00,000
Number of kms the car would travel every year 13,500
Number of kms the car would travel in 10 years 1,35,000
Average number of books donated by Ratna Nidhi every year 75,000
Average number of books donated by Ratna Nidhi in 10 years 7,50,000
Approximate value of books donated by Ratna Nidhi every year 1,50,00,000
Approximate value of books donated by Ratna Nidhi in 10 years 15,00,00,000

Net impact in 10 years: Over 5,00,000 children (ie almost every single child in the district) in
Chandrapur district would have access to good quality reading material.
Net value of the project in 10 years: INR 15,45,70,000 to INR 15,57,30,000
 BRANDING FOR THE PROJECT

ACC Trust, NPCI and Ratna Nidhi’s name will be jointly displayed on the vehicle once the project
begins.

Sample pictures of the branded car are shared below:

EXECUTION OF THE PROJECT
MONITORING OF THE PROJECT