1.5L books on Modi’s life ordered for Maha schools

Mumbai, February 13

Students in Maharashtra schools will soon get to read about various facets of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the state education department ordering a purchase of nearly 1.5 lakh books on his life.

The order was placed last month and most of these books, meant for extra reading for students, will be delivered to state government-run schools by this month-end, a department official said.

“The order also includes purchase of books on the life of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr BR Ambedkar but their number is lesser than that of the Modi books,” the official said.

In total, 1,49,954 books on Modi, 79,388 books on Ambedkar, 4,343 on Gandhi and 1,635 books on first Prime Minister Nehru have been ordered, as per the purchase order. Also, 76,713 books on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee have been ordered, the official said.

The books, in Marathi, Hindi, English and Gujarati languages, are being purchased under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), a programme for universalisation of elementary education, and will be kept as extra reading material for students from class 1 to 8, he said. State education minister Vinod Tawde said: “An expert committee has recommended the books and the order has been placed accordingly.” — PTI